Redirecting Question

Friday, July 11, 2008 ~ 5 Comments

Note: This is a techie question, all those not interested, look away now.

(and no, I’m not doing very well at the whole ’staying away from the blog to be productive thing…)

[update]SORTED!!!
That nice man wot writes Hydragenic came through for me (apparently he would ‘not be defeated’, he cracked it second time round).

I’ve added the following line to my .htaccess file on the gordonmclean.co.uk domain:
RedirectMatch 301 /index\.php/(.*) http://www.onemanblogs.co.uk/index.php/$1

And now when you click this link (which points at the gordonmclean.co.uk domain) you’ll be properly redirected back to this domain (onemanblogs.co.uk).
[/update]

I received an email the other day. It was a nice email, the very kind I’d hoped my 404 page would generate.

The problem is a simple one. I moved domains a while ago, so some of the links that still exist point to my old blog URL (which is still live but is no longer a blog).

Following one of those links (from Lifehacker.com I think) will take you to this URL. Which is currently displaying a 404 error message.

To get to the correct page, all you need to do is edit the URL, replacing “gordonmclean” with “onemanblogs”. Simple.

So why the hell can’t I figure out how to write the appropriate .htaccess commands to get it to do that automatically.

I don’t want to redirect everything, only anything that has “/index.php…..” in the URL. Shouldn’t be THAT hard, right?

Well I’m stuck. So, dearest technical interweb friends, help!!

Eight years and counting

Tuesday, July 8, 2008 ~ 7 Comments

Blimey. So much has happened since I started this blog it’s mind-boggling to consider it all.

So I won’t.

Just thought I’d mark the occasion, eight years since my first proper blog post (10 since my first “personal homepage”).

So, just to reiterate, blimey.

BBIAB

Monday, July 7, 2008 ~ 1 Comment

The next fortnight is a little hectic for me, all work related, as it’s “release week” this week and “retrospective week” next week. I won’t have much free time so this is your advanced warning that:

1. I haven’t died.
2. I am not lying in a hospital after a freak tea related accident.
3. I have not snuck off on holiday without telling anyone (I wish!).
4. I am not in the huff.

No, I’m just busy. I mean, yeah, I’m always pretty busy but for the next two weeks I’m going to be predictably busier than normal so I thought I’d let you all know.

What? Ohh of course I’ll still be on Twitter. Don’t be silly.

What? Yes I know iPhone3G launches on Friday. My order is already in.

What? Yeah the tennis was good. Well done Nadal!

What? Ohhh milk and one sugar please…

Interestingly Mundane

Thursday, June 26, 2008 ~ 12 Comments

Blimey, yer a strange bunch.

In fact I’m also a little insulted. I spend hours crafting blog posts, considering the weighty issues of the day, or trying to capture the elusive quality of a moment, carefully choosing my words to be thought-provokingly poetic.

Despite all that, what are the topics that really get you going? Whether tea is rubbish and how to hang up washing to dry! I’ve not had this many comments since we discussed toenails a few years back (July 2004? blimey), well apart from that one time I ASKED for comments.

The lesson here is that the mundane artefacts of modern life are something we all feel passionately about, and such things as which beverage you drink take on whole new realms of importance. We revel in the detail and, as such things are commonplace, everyone is an expert.

I’ve heard this kind of thing, in professional terms, described as the curse of knowledge. It’s an interesting turn of phrase and seems appropriate here. We all know what we know about how we, to continue the example, make a cup of tea. We may acknowledge that other methods produce similar results but deep down we know that the way WE make tea is the BEST way. With that basic understanding in place it becomes very difficult to see things from any other point of view (professionally this is why people get annoyed when you don’t know what they know, because they no longer remember having had to learn it).

But enough of that. This fascination with the every day items and tasks of modern life continues to be a good touching point, something we all do and know, so I guess it’s no wonder that discussions about how to hang up washing to dry are so… entertaining? I was going to say interesting but they aren’t really, are they, as anyone who has read the comments on the previous post going to suddenly try a new way to hang their clothes up to dry? No, I didn’t think so…

We do love a bit of introspection don’t we. And by we I mean all of us, the people of planet earth. Some enjoy it more than others, I agree, but everyone is fascinated by themselves on some level.

Even if that level is, quite literally, navel gazing.

Anyway, it’s this kind of thing that gives blogging a bad name so I think it’s time to buck up the ideas!

Well, maybe … you see … the thing is … I do have one more question …

If you are making a peanut butter and jam sandwich (PBJ to my American readers) do you also use butter (as in, Lurpak)?

Sudden need for habit

Monday, June 23, 2008 ~ No Comments

Everything happens at once. It’s always the way of these things, the calendar remains empty until, all of a sudden you realise you have a concert and a leaving do to attend one evening, and a day/evening session in the pub the next day.

Such is the case this coming Friday, Radiohead gig at Glasgow Green on Friday evening the same night my boss is having his leaving do (he’s sharing it with another member of staff who is leaving, double trouble!). I’m really looking forward to both, and only hope that I’m not so completely soaked that they don’t let me into the pub later on…

It’s also approaching the end of our release cycle at work, so things are starting to ramp up there. I’m launching a new website as well as writing up some of the new featuress in the product.

And as usual - why does my brain do this? why does it wait until I’m stupidly busy - I’ve also started looking at resurrecting Scottish Blogs. Hopefully I can build it using something that requires a lot less effort and administration that the previous, hand-coded, version required as I just don’t have the bandwidth at the moment.

One thing I’ve been struggling to do is get into a writing habit. I’ve never really had one for this website, but as I now have two blogs, and I contribute to the ISTC newsletter every month (and occasionally to the quarterly magazine), it’s something I really should try and foster. Perhaps moving the Playstation upstairs to where the computer is (running it through the monitor) was a bad idea after all..

Still, it’s not all bad. I’ve started doing a little exercise fairly regularly (physio stuff as well as a some work on flexibility and core strength) and I’ve managed to rediscover my reading mojo a little, so if nothing else I’m starting to find a balance. Of course all of the above is currently impacted by a certain football tournament but that’ll be over soon.

Publishing

Monday, February 18, 2008 ~ No Comments

Prompted by the You’re Not the Only One… wait, you’ve not heard of it! Well a few bloggers are:

…putting together a book for WARCHILD written by bloggers and here’s where you come in:

We would like you to submit a written piece about something you’ve been through from any aspect of your life that you want to share. It can literally be about anything: your relationships, your past, a road not taken, being a parent, an illness or your regrets etc. We’ve called it “You’re Not The Only One” to reflect the camaraderie of blogging.

[All] Proceeds will go to WARCHILD

If you are interested the full details are on the site, submissions need to be in by the 29th February. I’m sure it’ll be a success, and even if you don’t contribute, or don’t make the final edit, make sure you buy a copy - for charidee!

I’m considering submitting something from this, as I’ve had a few emails over the years thanking me for sharing my experiences here, largely because they had been (or were going through) something similar. One piece leaps out but I’m not sure I want to revisit it…

So I’ve been trawling my archives to see what else is hidden away in there and I have to admit that I’m shocked, and somewhat disappointed in myself. Place is bloody littered with bad grammar, spelling errors and general sloppiness. Now, I’ve always stated that this blog is informal and I certainly don’t apply the same strict rules here as I do in my daily work but still, it’s embarassing.

I really must buck up and start checking my posts before hitting Publish.

Of course, I say that but…

*clicks Publish*

So, that was 2007, was it?

Monday, December 31, 2007 ~ 2 Comments

I’ve always meant to do something like this but never found the time… ohh ok, the inclination, before. Perhaps that’s because it is somewhat overly narcissistic but, well, that’s never stopped me before..

So here is a (skewed) look at the past year, as seen through the eyes of this blog:
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