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Thursday, June 25, 2009

Revamped website 

Now that I have accounts on Facebook, Blogger and Flickr, all of which are more or less linked, I have very little need for a website.

When, in the dim and distant past, I first created a website, it was partly to give me some practice in this new and exciting HTML thing that everyone was raving over and partly to show off some photos I had taken. I put in some details about myself and links to things that I found interesting.

Now, years later, any photos I want to show the world, I on to Flickr, and sometimes, but rarely, on Facebook.

Facebook shows the world any information about myself and what I like. At least, it has enough information that I would have been happy to put on my own website.

And here, I put down all sorts of random thoughts that I would have put on the website anyway.

So, I have cut my website down to a single page containing three links. One to Facebook, one to Flickr and the other to here.

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Stretch goals 

Today’s Savage Chickens cartoon introduced me to a new term: Stretch Goal.

I looked it up and it is, according to Business Dictionary.Com, a goal that cannot be achieved by incremental or small improvements but require extending oneself to the limit.

This is one of these business type terms that I instantly hate. I hope it never catches on but I suspect it is already gaining ground or there wouldn’t be cartoons about it.

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Unsettled 

For the past week or so, I have been waking up at about 4.45am. That’s roughly about when the sun comes up so I assumed that it was the light that was waking me.

So I bought some blackout curtain liners which have cut out a lot of the light. I’m still waking at 4.45 though.

There might be a noise but I’m not sure. It might just be a habit.

Anyway, I woke at 4.45 this morning and sort of drifted in and out of sleep. My alarm went off at 6.15 and I snoozed it. It went off again at 6.23 and I snoozed it, as normal. I must have. Then I appear to have fallen asleep again as the next alarm went off at 6.31 at the same time as the other alarm on the chest of drawers.

Normally, I use the two snoozes to gradually wake up but this morning I was rudely grabbed from a rather unsettling bad dream to wakefulness. Or, as is normal in these situations, a sort of not-quite-wakefulness that leaves me feeling rather unsettled for most of the morning.

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Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Dairy Quest 

I popped out to the local shops yesterday morning to post my nephew’s birthday card. On the way back I saw a Dairy Quest milk float. My mind wasn’t working properly because I read the sign on the front as Hairy Chest.

I’m not sure what that sort of milkman would be selling. Not milk, that’s for certain.

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Thursday, June 18, 2009

Back to school 

I’ve just had an email from George.com, the online clothing arm of Asda, advertising their new Back to School range. Isn’t this a little early?

There were still kids going to school this morning as I made my way to work. They can’t go back; they haven’t left.

Clothing and stationery retailers should role out the tired old “Back to School” advertising campaigns a little closer to when the kids are actually due back at school and preferably when they are on their break.

Perhaps George should start advertising their Christmas 2010 range now?

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Tuesday, June 16, 2009

See me! 

Sometimes I have a look over my recent blog postings and find that I have written the most awful claptrap in some language that is close to but clearly isn’t English.

It would be useful if there were some blog reviewer who could mark blog posting in much the same way as teachers used to mark my homework.

I wonder how many would be marked D – See me!

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Monday, June 15, 2009

Steps of Shame 

I just ordered a second-hand Best of Steps CD. Tell no one, it’s our little secret, OK?

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Friday, June 12, 2009

Calendar advice 

My desk calendar is a cheap horrible thing called “Planet Earth”. I was expecting 365 pictures of lovely places and animals but instead I get some nice pictures which are often repeated and every week some sage advice.

Today, it has given me advice …

did you know?

By closing off any unused areas in your house, you can heat or cool your home more efficiently.

Probably this is quite correct but how many people have large enough houses to be able to close off areas that they don’t use?

I’ll let you ponder that for a moment while I pop home and close down the east wing.


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Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Bogart 

Now, if you’re expecting a post about the black and white movie star then read no further. This is about one of my favourite cartoons from a long-defunct UK newspaper called Today.

Today was the first colour newspaper in the UK. I can’t remember exactly when it started but I think it was the early eighties. It made a feature of the new colour gimmick by having colour photos, a coloured crossword (which didn’t last long) and coloured-in cartoons. Other newspapers of the age were limited to black and white with the occasional red splash for the front page.

The cartoons were the highlight of the paper for me and one cartoon in particular, Bogart, the adventures of a cat. I would often buy the paper purely to read the cartoon.

I used to love reading about Bogart masquerading as The Phantommmmm, a sort of superhero that didn’t really do anything particularly heroic other than jump out from behind bins to scare people. I also enjoyed Bogart’s trip to Quarantine which turned out to be a fantasticly luxurious cat hotel. Bogart also delighted in scaring off his owner’s boyfriends, teasing local dogs and chatting with the pigeons on the roof.

It was just brilliant.

Unfortunately, the newspaper eventually folded and Bogart disappeared. The strip transferred to the Daily Mail but I didn’t know about that until it was too late.

Today, I made a fantastic discovery: Bogart is now available online!

Read it yourself: http://bogartthecat.co.uk/

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Monday, June 08, 2009

Party! 

Most people react to a party invitation with the words “oh, great!” I, however, will have the words “oh, dear” in my head.

I really am no good at parties. My few social skills disappear, I listen much more than I speak and when I do get a few words out they are more than likely incoherent. I find myself saying things my Dad would have said and cringing about them the same way I did when he said them.

Yesterday, David and I went to a garden party. I was having a pleasant enough time but I was conscious of not drifting far from David and of not participating very much in conversations. I definitely didn’t initiate any and the only time I was on my own was just before we left and David had gone to the toilet. I could, at that point, made random conversation with people but, no, I decided to go and look at some plants.

I find this deeply infuriating. I would like to be more sociable but I find it very hard sometimes. I have improved since I was a gawky awkward teenager and on rare occasions I can talk to new people but not often. Definitely not yesterday.

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