Combine & Conquer
Wednesday, May 16, 2007 ~ 5 comments so far
Combine and conquer
It’s been so long since I started this whole ‘oneman’ thing, combining all my online ‘identities’ into one amorphous mass, that it was quite good to take a break, step back and make sure that it’s working for me.
Ultimately the creation of onemanwrites.co.uk was to stop the build up of “work” related thoughts and allow me somewhere to expand my musings on Technical Communications and explore web design theories in a little more depth than I have here.
That leaves Informationally Overloaded as my “pop culture/diary/splurge” site. Simple.
Of course running two personal blogs, maintaining a side job (onemandesigns.co.uk – which started the whole “oneman” thing), and keeping on top of Scottish Blogs means I need to stay pretty well organised and, as I don’t tend to plan my blog posting that far in advance, I have been relying on a pen drive and a scattering of text files to store various drafts of posts for both blogs, as well as other items to be tracked for Scottish Blogs and one man designs.
It’s a clunky system which leaves me completely stuck if I forget my pen drive or, god forbid, it dies on me but it stops me having to login to two different WordPress installs everytime I want to re-visit a draft post before publishing it (ohh yes, and sometimes I edit them too). Admittedly this issue has become more prevalent since starting the new blog (onemanwrites, do keep up) as I’m actually making the effort to edit what I write before posting over there and, as you’ll no doubt have noticed, I tend to just dump stuff on this site without too much editing beforehand… yeah yeah I know, it’s THAT obvious.
My “system” for coping with all this isn’t ideal and largely evolved by accident, it’s quirks are known and unfortunately it’s starting to creak at the edges. I’ve hunted around for a better way, of course, and hadn’t really found one until I stumbled across this post on Matt Haughey’s new blog where he outlines how he is using various Google Apps (and others) along with Google Browser sync to maintain browser sessions across multiple computers allowing him to “work” from anywhere. It was like being slapped around the chops with a damp halibut.
Now I know there are naysayers that say that Google is harvesting our souls and we’ll all end up as slaves to lucifer but, frankly, I stopped listening to them when I purchased www.gordonmclean.co.uk (something else I was advised to be ‘careful’ about). It’s easy to be flippant when nothing has happened to you, but I’m a pretty easy going guy and file most of the frantic rhetoric on this issue in a big folder called “yeah… I guess…”. Don’t get me wrong, I value my privacy as much as the next person but I also quite enjoy living my life and not worrying the stuff like that too much. Shit happens, and gets dealt with as and when.
So, after noodling about a little I now have Google “Docs & Spreadsheets” as a central place to hold draft posts for both my blogs and a simple to do list, Google Calendar which syncs with Outlook at work, Google Mail for.. well.. all my personal email, and Google Reader to check what you lot are posting.
I now have one place for draft posts, one place to maintain simple To do lists (until such times as Thinking Rock goes ‘online’ that is), and one place for my calendar and email. I still ‘backup’ my email to Thunderbird, and I still use Outlook at work as my main desktop calendar app (syncing with Google Calendar) but, in the main, I am now solely using web apps for all of my personal information needs.
The key advantage to drafting posts in Google Docs is that it allows you to publish straight to your blog. It comes with a stack of APIs so most blog platforms are covered and it also handles having more than one blog. I’ve been using it this way for the past few weeks, and it is smooooth. Of course there are some quirks and funnies and I really do wish they had done something smarter with photo handling (in other words I wish Google had bought Flickr rather than Yahoo) but I can’t fault it on many counts.
The major, and obvious, gotcha is that I’m now solely dependant on the internet as part of my “workflow” but that really hasn’t changed. Sure I used to work offline but I still need to be online to post, or send/check email and so on and on.
All in all it’s working for me, and I have to admit that, privacy concerns aside, Google are pretty damn good at creating web apps. Or at the very least, buying the successful ones and adding their own little tweaks.
Information(ally) Overload(ed)
Tuesday, May 15, 2007 ~ 5 comments so far
Note: Been meaning to post this for some weeks now but couldn’t find the right moment… I guess now is as good a time as any.
The title of this blog was, believe it or not, chosen more carefully than most of you may realise, and far more carefully than I let on. Mind you I do put some thought into this site from time to time, honest, so it may not come as that much of a surprise to some..
This blog has always been, and will remain to be, a place where I can dump my brain. A place I can spew out the various thoughts that assault my mind on a daily basis, regardless of where they come from, what prompted them, or what they contain (within my own set of self-censoring rules, obv.).
Over the past several years, more and more of my life, both social and professional, has been focussed around the internet and, by extension, I’m ‘plugged in’ more than I care to admit, even to myself. The recent state of near-death that my home PC found itself in only confirms my fears; I cannot live without a computer. It’s too ingrained, too heavily embedded in my life, not only does it store information that I would hate to lose, it’s also the focus of most of my thought processes.
Need to know a phone number? Or the location of a hotel? How about converting celsius to fahrenheit? Each question prompts the same response… fire up the PC, hit the internet. Any form of knowledge that I do not currently have is sourced there and I struggle to imagine not having such a resource so close at hand (and yes, I’m careful to verify what I read. Remember kids, not everything on the internet is true!).
A friendly reminder
Monday, May 14, 2007 ~ 8 comments so far
If you currently link to this site, please update your bookmarks, links, blogrolls and whatnot to http://www.onemanblogs.co.uk/.
The previous URL (gordonmclean.co.uk) will stop forwarding to this site at the end of the month. You have been warned.
Dispatches from the deck(chair)
Sunday, May 13, 2007 ~ 6 comments so far
A week in the sun. Mild tan achieved (think healthy glow rather than skin cancer city) and back to the rain. So a few numbers, and a notable mention or two.
Number of crappy spy thriller novels read: 1 – Tom Clancy: Red Rabbit
Number of books from “list of books I really should read”: 1 – Kerouac: On the Road
Number of fascinating books that made me think: 1 – Maeda: Simplicity
Number of times I had to charge my iPod: 3 – mainly due to Albert Hammond Jr., Elbow and Starflyer 59 (with Stevie and Aretha as backup)
Number of runs: 2 – would’ve been three but for various circumstances, more on which in a moment
Number of pub quizzes entered and won: 1 – including me knowing that Abba’s last hit was SuperTrooper..
Number of ice cream cones eaten whilst watching the sun burn the horizon, and reflected in a mirror smooth Med: 1 – waffle cone, two scoops, one vanilla, one strawberry
Number of moments wondering how the hell the Spanish got anything done: 42
Number of times I had to charge my MacBook: 6 – more on that a LOT later
Number of tapas eaten: >10
Number of alcoholic drinks consumed: Hic
Item of note 1: Chatting with a friend of the Danish entry to Eurovision. Having watched a rather obvious (in both costume and song) drag queen swan around the stage to a rather catchy little disco number, I was amazed to hear that one of the guys in the pub knew her. What a small world.
Admittedly I was a little less amazed when he confessed that he was gay. Cue mock amazement from.. yeah I think the entire bar, as he’d spent the last 20 minutes yelping and screaming in excitement whilst doing that little tappy “seal clap” thing which appears to the remit of the overly camp. Alas just after the performance he swanned out, blowing kisses left and right. Apparently it was the only pub which had the Eurovision semi-final showing, but it was just “too straight for my ass, hahahaa, chow!”.
Yes, he really did say “chow!” when he left. Gloriously camp indeed.
Item of note 2: My father-in-law had an appointment for some treatment in hospital, he was only in overnight but these things are always a little stressful. Thankfully everything went well and he’s doing fine.
And so, it’s back to work tomorrow, and yeah, I guess I’d better fess up about that whole MacBook thing sometime..
Selling my soul
Wednesday, May 9, 2007 ~ 15 comments so far
I receive a bribe!
Why am I starting to sound like JonnyB! and what’s with the exclamation marks!
A friendly email, from a friendly person, from a company I’ve used before, arrives in my email. Apparently he’d like to bribe me to blog about his company and their website. I’ve used said company before, and was quietly impressed by what they had to offer (at that time) but this is different as money, or rather a voucher of monetary value, is involved.
And so I find myself with a dilemma.
Looking around the internet, in general not about this company in particular, there is plenty of bile, vitriol and ire spouted forth about all and sundry. Nary a product or purchase gets away scot-free, as everyone has had a bad experience with something, bought a faulty doo-hickey, received shockingly bad customer service, or they’ve been completely misled by a nasty salesman. The world wide web is awash with lengthy diatribes, distilling the smallest fault to produce the basic statements of “X is shite” or “Y are a bunch of wankers”, you know the type of thing.
Rumour has it that, somewhere in the dark recesses of some dusty corner of the internet, there is a blog post which in forthright manner, outlines the faults of a product in a well-constructed, backed by fact, free from invective, way. Of course no-one has ever seen it, but they know someone, who knows someone who has… I like to think that that post exists, close to the big red button that does nothing, just before the end of the internet, but maybe it’s better if no-one can find it.
Ranting, moaning, teeth gnashing, tongue lashing posts make up a fair old chunk of the internets thesedays as, let’s face it, if you are lashing out against something, how better to do it than from the safety of your own home (ohh ok, from behind your office desk when you should be updating a very LONG spreadsheet).
But such is the nature of the internet – maybe there is scope for a “positive reviews only” site, somewhere people can go when they want to say nice things about a product or service – as it’s human nature to complain and moan when annoyed with something, but to take things for granted when they work without fault. It’s something I try to address, posting here when I find something I like, or something that works, and of course that means that I am putting my name against a product recommendation, permanently.
The question, in this particular case, is whether or not my recommendation would carry less weight as you’ll know that I have received monetary reward for stating it.
Of course it’s entirely possible that my recommendation will be a negative one, and if that is the case I will still be posting here, so there is no “good review only” censorship going on. But is that enough to sway your opinion of my recommendation?
The ethics behind this are intriguing and I realise I’m probably over-thinking what was, and I firmly believe it was, a friendly request from a small “internet aware” company. Ultimately the monetary reward is the value the company is willing to pay for (they hope) positive publicity on a personal website. It’s a small risk for them, another ranting moaning blogger is easily lost in the noise, but the gain isn’t all that large either. Interestingly I wasn’t asked about my viewing stats, but then there are ways of guess-timating “impact” these days.
I WILL be taking the money of course (hey, it’s my first freebie that’s come along in.. what.. 8 years of blogging!) so if you don’t like it, feel free to say. I’d genuinely like to hear ALL opinions on this, good, bad or invective laden (or a combination of all three, why the fuck not).
So what say you? Is it enough that I’ve been upfront about the monetary reward? Is it any different from a journalist being paid to do an assignment? And by that I mean to cover a topic, not at the request of a company to cover/review a product. I’m aware that my post will forever link me (good or bad) to the company in question, so how much is that worth to me?
Would YOU take the money?
Click, delete, click, delete
Monday, May 7, 2007 ~ 8 comments so far
Photography can be a bit of a black art, but then anyone who has picked up any camera that is more than a point-and-shoot will know that. Aperture this, exposure that, bracketing, f numbers, focal distances and on and on and on with the terminology.
Of course that’s the same with any technology, I know, so I guess what I’m really saying is that I’ve yet to experience that lightbulb moment, that mental switch where everything goes from being “Maybe if I … ” to “I know this’ll look better if …”.
I guess this is what makes a hobby, a hobby. Specialist knowledge. Right?
As I’m constantly trying to improve my knowledge, and hone my, ahem, art, I generally spend some time analysing the photos I have taken, trying to figure out how they could be improved. I’m not a huge fan of heavy post-processing, so pretty much what you see is what you get.
One thing I’ve always been fairly happy with is my ability to frame things, to pick out an interesting angle or viewpoint. But even that has been failing me recently.
For example, our wander around Glasgow Botanic Gardens offered plenty of opportunity for ‘interesting’ photos. The main greenhouse in particular, cries out for attention and, of the many photos I took only two really stand out, this one and this one.
But just viewing them tells me that there are other photo opportunities that I missed.
Now, I know that this will always be the case, and that that is nothing new but it’s still a little annoying. With all the mumbo-jumbo that surrounds photography, and my increasing frustration at the slow rate at which I’m picking it up (I’m usually a fast learner), the fact that the one ‘skill’ I thought I had seems to be deserting me too… well it’s a little annoying. But I’ve said that already.
One of the two photos contains the ‘missed opportunity’. Can you spot which one? And can you spot what the ‘missed opportunity’ was?
Just curious. In case it’s, you know, just me.
Drawn to Water
Saturday, May 5, 2007 ~ 2 comments so far
Recently, Hg was musing on how he is “fascinated by the sparseness of the planet’s polar extremes and specifically by artistic responses to the territory”. He quote from Brian Keenan’s book, Four Quarters of Light, and it’s such a great quote that I have to repeat it here:
“Wilderness to the creative mind is like a blank canvas to a painter: it is full of possibilities. Here is perfect peace and absolute freedom; here too may be the prologue of melancholy or bliss. In the wilderness there are no ready-made roads; you make your own and go where you choose.”
Isn’t that glorious. The entire post is worth a read and really struck a chord, and as well as having me rush off to order the book itself (well, rush to the nearest online bookstore that is), it had me pondering my great romance with water.
Or to be precise, for tap and bottled water isn’t quite what I have in mind, large of bodies of water. Be they rivers, lochs, lakes or seas, they seem to drawn me to them and once there allow my mind to wander freely, unburdened and unconstrained. It’s not always a wilderness but by their very nature they are wild, untamed and far removed from my sedate lifestyle. They can invoke great emotions, and hold many memories for me.
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