The New York Times has an interesting article on blogging. It seems it is an addiction for some. Looking at the dates on my posts I can see that I'm not one of those people.
The article does note that few people read blogs and many are started but few continue. I imagine many people wonder like I do - why am I doing this?
Blogging can be a solution in search of a problem. This is to say it is a great way to get online. It's easy to use (no messy HTML), easy to update etc etc. But if you don't really have any compelling reason to get your information on the web (or indeed and compelling information), then what is the point?
Friday, May 28, 2004
Friday, May 21, 2004
Gulliver'’s Travels
I have been listening to Hugh Laurie read Gulliver'’s Travels. I borrowed the tapes from the library and they are great for the daily commute.
I don't really know the background of the book or Jonathan Swift the author but it was more than just an ye olde adventure that I had been expecting.
Mr Swift makes some telling points on human (and horse) nature. Some of the time his moralising and irony is a bit quaint and the satire is always heavy but it is well worth a read. It is not the children's story I thought it was.
If you think it's just about a giant in Lilliput then think again.
I don't really know the background of the book or Jonathan Swift the author but it was more than just an ye olde adventure that I had been expecting.
Mr Swift makes some telling points on human (and horse) nature. Some of the time his moralising and irony is a bit quaint and the satire is always heavy but it is well worth a read. It is not the children's story I thought it was.
If you think it's just about a giant in Lilliput then think again.
Friday, May 14, 2004
Diary?
Given that no one other than me reads this blog why am I bothering?
I'm not sure. I guess it's a question quite a few people with Blogger accounts ask themselves. I have also wondered just what I should include in this blog and whether or not I should "publicize" it (which I have to an extent by signing up with Aussie Blogs).
Publicity I decided is not really warranted given the content of the site. Basically I've filled this blog up with a variety of observations and anecdotes. Great stuff if you are chatting to a friend in a pub but not really compelling reading.
I guess I keep it going as a sort of diary. I have looked back at entry's, even though they only go back a few months, and thought - "Hey yeh - that was what I was doing". So I suppose the whole blog will continue on as is. It is a bit of a test of my short attention span...
I'm not sure. I guess it's a question quite a few people with Blogger accounts ask themselves. I have also wondered just what I should include in this blog and whether or not I should "publicize" it (which I have to an extent by signing up with Aussie Blogs).
Publicity I decided is not really warranted given the content of the site. Basically I've filled this blog up with a variety of observations and anecdotes. Great stuff if you are chatting to a friend in a pub but not really compelling reading.
I guess I keep it going as a sort of diary. I have looked back at entry's, even though they only go back a few months, and thought - "Hey yeh - that was what I was doing". So I suppose the whole blog will continue on as is. It is a bit of a test of my short attention span...
Nice shiny car
I picked up my car from the pane beaters yesterday and they had cut and polished it. I wash my car about twice a year so I'm not used to it looking in any way shiny but now it sparkles. The also cleaned and vacuumed the inside, even really cleaned the windows. I really love the way it looks but I know I'm not going to maintain it. I suppose if I want a shiny car, I'll just have to smash it into something...
Not dropped
It appears I'm not dropped, so I can stop being pissed off. Got an email from the coach saying I was playing in the 6's. He didn't know why I was on the 7's list. I suspect it must have been discussed and someone stuffed up. It appears I'll have to life my game and try a bit harder to stay in the 6's...
Dropped
I've been dropped and I am mightily pissed off by it.
I have played Hockey since my mid teens and have enjoyed it immensely. Lately as my time commitments have been a bit extreme I've just been playing the winter season and not training. For the first four week of this season I've played in our club's sixth team. It is not a particularly high standard but given my fitness level I have enjoyed it and enjoyed the guys I've been playing with.
This week however I've been dropped to the 7's. I've been trying to tell myself not to be concerned, all I want is a "run around the park", it doesn't matter where I play etc - but I can't help it I'm pissed off. I was enjoying playing in the team I was. I thought I was doing OK, well even. We were winning or drawing games and this team had failed to win a game all last year, so the team was working well.
I'm sure there is a reason for it, I just hope it a good one. (Yes I'm bitter - I just need some time to calm down a bit.)
I have played Hockey since my mid teens and have enjoyed it immensely. Lately as my time commitments have been a bit extreme I've just been playing the winter season and not training. For the first four week of this season I've played in our club's sixth team. It is not a particularly high standard but given my fitness level I have enjoyed it and enjoyed the guys I've been playing with.
This week however I've been dropped to the 7's. I've been trying to tell myself not to be concerned, all I want is a "run around the park", it doesn't matter where I play etc - but I can't help it I'm pissed off. I was enjoying playing in the team I was. I thought I was doing OK, well even. We were winning or drawing games and this team had failed to win a game all last year, so the team was working well.
I'm sure there is a reason for it, I just hope it a good one. (Yes I'm bitter - I just need some time to calm down a bit.)
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Explain this
Most weeks I pick up a copy of The Bulletin and take it home to read. It is often on the kitchen table and occasionally I'll read it at breakfast and explain some articles (or ads!) to my kids.
This week the cover featured another horrific picture from Iraq - the one with the prisoner cowering in front of the guard dogs (see link above). I found that I couldn't take this copy of the Bulletin down to the kitchen table because I couldn't explain it. I don't really understand why this happened myself, so there is no way I can explain even a sanatised version to young kids.
Generally when I'm trying to explain things to them (like why you can't drive to the moon) it's because their experience of the world in quite narrow. In this case it seems my experience of the world is too narrow.
I applaud The Bulletin for using a confronting cover. There is no need for kids to see images like this - they'll be inundated with confronting images before long anyway - but it is probably a good idea that I see it. It means I can't pretend I never noticed and stay hidden in my comfortable notions of just who and what is good and bad.
This week the cover featured another horrific picture from Iraq - the one with the prisoner cowering in front of the guard dogs (see link above). I found that I couldn't take this copy of the Bulletin down to the kitchen table because I couldn't explain it. I don't really understand why this happened myself, so there is no way I can explain even a sanatised version to young kids.
Generally when I'm trying to explain things to them (like why you can't drive to the moon) it's because their experience of the world in quite narrow. In this case it seems my experience of the world is too narrow.
I applaud The Bulletin for using a confronting cover. There is no need for kids to see images like this - they'll be inundated with confronting images before long anyway - but it is probably a good idea that I see it. It means I can't pretend I never noticed and stay hidden in my comfortable notions of just who and what is good and bad.
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Design needs some work
So I tweaked a design and turned it from excellent to awful in about 10 minutes. I dumped it and tried another, this time with a few less tweakes and this is what you now see. It's good but the trouble is there is only so much tweaking you can do without breaking it - mainly because of the images. I guess if you want more control you use your own images or stop using blogger,
All change
Ok, it has to happen.
Blogger has gone to all the trouble to build a nice new site with new templates so I'd better grab one. I'm going to have to strip out some of the personalisation from my old design and see if I can dump it in a new template.
Now what will it be?
A Zeldman?
A Bowman?
Perhaps a nice Shea?
Blogger has gone to all the trouble to build a nice new site with new templates so I'd better grab one. I'm going to have to strip out some of the personalisation from my old design and see if I can dump it in a new template.
Now what will it be?
A Zeldman?
A Bowman?
Perhaps a nice Shea?
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Rubbing shoulders
I drive a car to and from work every day. I have some environmental consciousness, enough to pay extra for "Green" electricity, but not enough to take my polluting car off the road and take public transport each day.
Today, and indeed for the rest of the week, I am on public transport, rubbing shoulders with the masses. My car is at the panel beaters, who are going to take all week and a great deal of money to repair a small dent on a single panel of the car. Before I get started on a rant about cars, panel beaters and insurance costs - back to public transport.
I have no real objection to public transport. Like most people, I used it extensively as a student. Cost though, is an issue. It costs me $5.80 a day (or $93.80 a month if I want to buy in advance). My parking is free and while petrol is expensive, it just doesn't come close to $5 a day.
However, if you add up petrol, registration, insurance and servicing for the year it probably comes to $2,500 a year for the car versus about $1,125 for monthly transport tickets. That's a saving of over 50%! So why don't I catch public transport? Well setting aside my general laziness, the flexibility of the car makes it easy for me to justify spending the money. In this I feel I am not alone.
Still, when I have to, I enjoy public transport. You get out of the little private bubble that is your car and have to mix with others. You feel that you are living a life a little more rather than watching it pass by. You are forced to relate to others, even if it is only a small shuffle to let people pass or grab a hand hold. It probably should be compulsory for everyone to catch public transport once a week. It might make us more understanding of others and cut down on a bit of road rage.
Today, and indeed for the rest of the week, I am on public transport, rubbing shoulders with the masses. My car is at the panel beaters, who are going to take all week and a great deal of money to repair a small dent on a single panel of the car. Before I get started on a rant about cars, panel beaters and insurance costs - back to public transport.
I have no real objection to public transport. Like most people, I used it extensively as a student. Cost though, is an issue. It costs me $5.80 a day (or $93.80 a month if I want to buy in advance). My parking is free and while petrol is expensive, it just doesn't come close to $5 a day.
However, if you add up petrol, registration, insurance and servicing for the year it probably comes to $2,500 a year for the car versus about $1,125 for monthly transport tickets. That's a saving of over 50%! So why don't I catch public transport? Well setting aside my general laziness, the flexibility of the car makes it easy for me to justify spending the money. In this I feel I am not alone.
Still, when I have to, I enjoy public transport. You get out of the little private bubble that is your car and have to mix with others. You feel that you are living a life a little more rather than watching it pass by. You are forced to relate to others, even if it is only a small shuffle to let people pass or grab a hand hold. It probably should be compulsory for everyone to catch public transport once a week. It might make us more understanding of others and cut down on a bit of road rage.
Monday, May 03, 2004
Gmail - the way things should be
Well I'm using my new gmail account a bit now. I'm trying to wean all my personal email off my work address. Having used it for a week or so the standout feature is one I didn't expect. It is not the "conversation view" (which is nice though), it's not the huge 1000mg storage (I haven't even used 0.1% of that), it is the spellchecker.
It is just easy use. Click on spellchecker and it doesn't open some popup dialogue box showing a fragment of text with a few suggestions and half a dozen choices to ignore or replace or whatever. What it does is highlight anything it believes to be spelling errors in red on your message. It does this on your actual message - no popups. If you click on the red word, about half a dozen alternatives appear, you choose the appropriate one and it corrects the text and turns the word green. Simple. Easy.
You can scroll through you message quickly and easily and not have to hit ignore twenty times. Why can't Word do this? Or blogger indeed?
It is just easy use. Click on spellchecker and it doesn't open some popup dialogue box showing a fragment of text with a few suggestions and half a dozen choices to ignore or replace or whatever. What it does is highlight anything it believes to be spelling errors in red on your message. It does this on your actual message - no popups. If you click on the red word, about half a dozen alternatives appear, you choose the appropriate one and it corrects the text and turns the word green. Simple. Easy.
You can scroll through you message quickly and easily and not have to hit ignore twenty times. Why can't Word do this? Or blogger indeed?
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