just-plain-life – Page 40 – Cubicgarden.com…

Ebay unfair to those in a Coma?

While I was in Hospital in a Coma, I dropped the ball on quite a few things including a couple of Ebay things I was selling. So I find out that the person I was selling a computer too didn’t get the computer, actually it was still in my room. But I had already cashed the Paypal transfer a while ago. So I had not sent the computer but I was going to, I bought a box for it and everything to go in the post, but had not gone through with the actual post part. Then that weekend the bleed on the brain happened and I was in hospital for 4 weeks.

This wouldn’t be a problem if the didn’t tarnish my perfect 100% reputation with a negative comment for something I had no control over. I’m not saying he was in the wrong, as far as he was concerned I had bagged the money and not answered any of my emails since. I guess I seemed like a scammer and he did the right thing asking ebay to return his money.

The problem I have is since returning to the real world, its not possible to appeal against the decision. Even with all the best intentions, nothing. I’ve tried contacting the buyer and now I’m looking for the ebay email address to appeal the decision. If I could just get through to someone, I could show them the caring bridge site which would also prove what I’m saying is the truth, Heck I even have a sick note if it goes that far.

Its not so much about the money, I’m happy to give the guy back his money, its about my reputation, 100% to 85.7%.

Here’s how it went from there end.

05 Jun, 2010 at 14:48 eBay Customer Support has refunded the buyer and the case is closed. You must now reimburse eBay for this refund.
05 Jun, 2010 at 14:45 The buyer has escalated the case to eBay Customer Support.
04 Jun, 2010 at 06:18 You should have responded to the buyer.
25 May, 2010 at 06:18 The buyer opened a case: Item not received

I finally found a email to contact ebay to contest the case.

Its open season at the forresters

I’m now at home if you want to come around for a visit, but if possible please wait till I move if possible because I’ll have more space. Yes to add to my stress (as such) I was going through with a move to the new flats at New Islington. My sister was smart enough to call my estate agent (billie) and put the whole move on hold while I was lying in a hospital bed. Luckly I was able to pick everything back up again which means I’ll be moving in the next few month. I just got accepted for the Mortgage which I got at a very good rate.

So of course, come around but call me first on my mobile or house phone so I can direct you to the right building and right flat.

don’t expect too much of me because I get tired quickly and can’t go a far distance, but I am clearly Ian :).

I plan to take the full amount of time out so will be getting myself on the xbox a lot, which means getting a xbox live gold account and maybe learning how to use the control pad to play games like Halo. I expect to be buying a few games which I’ve missed such as Portal, gears of war, etc. If anyone (@si_lumb) wants to lend me some games that would save me a load of money. Will I buy a Playstation 3? I don’t know, I’m considering it.

So I guess if your on Xbox Live look out for (Cubicgarden) because thats me. Otherwise I’ll be shopping for my new Pad or going to the cinema. I’ll be online but not that much because I want to stay away from work stuff. Adrian says everything is taken care of, so I believe him.

Once again, thanks to everyone and I hope to see or touch base at some point over the next few months.

Thank you part 2

Thank you to the whole of the ICU ward including Nicole, Sarah and Shelly who looked after me while I was in ICU (say my parents because I was obviously sleeping) They explained to my parents exactly what was going on and with such compassion plus they sympathize with there position unlike nurses later on the stroke ward. I was out of it but you made a dent in my parents memory that they remember you all. But I would be wrong to just rule out all the nurses on the stroke ward, there were some good apples mixed in with the bad ones. Ginger was great, there was also a bunch of male nurses which were excellent and ever so witty. I will never forget the male nurse who ran half way to somewhere to get my pills for the last night. He was totally out of breath by the time he returned. Oh and how could I forget the dinner ladies, good fun and always got a hi from them.

Thanks to everyone who wrote to me on Facebook, you all know how much I hate facebook but these were worthy of a mention and a thanks.

Claire Phillips (sorry for the scare, hope it didn’t ruin your holiday in vegas), Waheed Rehman (we need to go to a real imax soon, no better place that manchester), Matt Pass (sorry for not being in touch, my parents moved from Fishponds to whirl near weston), Tim Cowlishaw, Jennifer O’Grady (I don’t think I’ll be going for a drink anytime soon sorry), Louise Ferguson, Frank Wales, Imran Ali (Not quite marked all as read and delete but almost), Tasha Fear (thanks!), Gia Milinovich, the mythical dot (good to hear from you), Marissa Mulvena (newcastle will have to wait sorry), Tim Cowlishaw, Anders Lewis, Vikki Leaney, Ivan Pope, Kate Norman, Tom Leitch, Sarah Khan-Wuttka (you have two children now?), deena denaro-bickerstaffe, eileen jones, sheila farrell, ryan alexander, Ashley Angail,, Tim dobson (again), dave crossland, deborah cawkwell, Joanna Rodriguez, Herb Kim, and Stephanie Kit Kat Lease, Maz Hardey (yes theres more that lost but lost was extremely good TV, better that the average american stuff), Roberto Beto, Ann Michael,

Of course I forgot to look at my private twitter messages, so thanks to @Fidothe, @leeky, @imran (didn’t know you did a shout out to me at ignite, thanks! would have preferred to have been there), @kidhelios, @mike_lott, @vickyjo (thanks for the hugs) @sheiliaellen (again and thanks for visiting me). Those on Identica also get a mention too. @rajmarshall, @methoddan.

Thanks to everyone who sent me a card incluing Amy, Claire, Paul & Ann, Birch and Suzie (all the way from the states) Paul Chessbrough and the telegraph dev team, Chris Tasha and family, Antie Melrose, Antie Kathleen, Uncle danny, Cousin Patrick. My old Neighbours in Lodge Causeway, Kellie Hancock, Waheed, Most of Worldservice new media, Suw and Kevin, Herm B + Tom (thanks for the magazine), the rest of World service new new media, Interaction 05 (the last class I taught before leaving Ravensbourne), everyone at Clearleft, dave crossland with the biggest card of them all, Jo and family, david marks (thanks for the pages), Bryan and Michaela (not seen you guys in ages hope your well), Rain, Beryl + Lockley + debbie + tony + amanda + lewis, Social media cafe manchester, deslyn and mike. Suw & Kevin, Waheed, Kelly hancock, my old neighbours from lodge causeway, Antie Melrose + Patrick + Uncle danny + antie Kathleen, Paul + Ann Ross’s parents, Birch + Suzie (all the way from america believe it or not), Chris + Tasha, + family, Waheed

And I came home today to find even more cards that my parents kept for me because it would have caused a problem having so many cards at the hospital.

Carl (germany), Sarah + Steve, lucy briges, Emily, Anty Halline + family, melrose + patick,, megan + billy (home made card from the kids awwwww), bert + joen, harry + tiffany (thanks for the snippits of news, really helped in ICU), Adam + Helen, dj adams (@qmacro), Rachael Neagle + Neil, Oli (@cdddimate) (nice to hear you bashing out some trance), Marissa + @herbkim, rachel, Samantha, the project north team at work, tim + funmi + andre, + Otis (Otis? Really another little one?). Andrew + Kerry from geekup, Glyn + Sheila from London, BBC r&d, Nicky Smyth + Sal (work mates), Adia & Amari (cousin), Ross + Carley + Megan + Billy (how many more times shall I thank them).

Most of the people I know at BBC Manchester including derek, andras, Toni, Bruce, Binh, Kev, Nik, Paul, Matt, Andy, Leanne, Alice, Angus, Tony, Minesy, Heather, Paul (and more), Alphonsa, Andras. Laura, Jon Paul and Geeks of the world! (can’t work out who this one came from but its a touching end to the long list).

Told you my memory isn’t so great, I almost forgot the caring bridge site, which my ex-wife sarah helped setup with help from my sister and mother (the mystery blogger, wasn’t she good?)

Trish Veale (Hanrahan), Rachael Neagle, Mike Lott (Singapore), Kellie Thatcher, Mo McRoberts, Pauline Randall, carl rauth (germany), Maz Hardey, Funmi Alexander (how many kids do you have now), Antie Millicent (thank the lord, Jamaica), Waheed Rehman, Samantha Chadwick (nice story about thick and easy), Bruce Weir (lost was good and you know it), Vanessa Westwood, Rachael Neagle (facebook still sucks), Jason Legget, Glen Ford, Steve J, Sheila Thomson (thanks for visiting me again), Jay Caines-Gooby (a what plot?), John Dodds, Bahi P (yep I really put my personally in those posts), Lucas Gramajo (Toronto), Trish Veale (Hanrahan), Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe, Carley & Ross (again), Stephen Knights (6k gosh really!), Kellie Thatcher, Herb Kim, Andy Goodwin, Brian Butterworth, Dave Brooks, Kat Pattison (still hope to make that box), Melinda & Cristiano (my newsreader certainly kept me busy for a while), Hayley Showering, Sarah blow & Steve, Rick Curran, Ben Metcalfe, Sarah Wuttke (baby zac?), Peter Mills, Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe, Peter Schübel, Chilon Forrester (new york), Cristiano & Melinda, Dan Lynch, vanessa westwood, Sandra Haines (antie), Kellie Thatcher, Brendan Quinn, Nigel Crawley, Mark Tanner, Vikki Leaney (you got married), Simon Alexander, Justin Souter, Lisa Connolly (would you have come to manchester?), Dave Brooks (New Haven, CT, USA), Lola White (Jamaica), Melrose forrester (antie), Harry Lo (Pepsi is better, Hong Kong SAR China), Dan Oliver (.net magazine), Jack Murray (enjoyed media 2020), Sabina Bhugun, Rachael Neagle (more cryptic status to come), Dave Mee, Chi-chi Ekweozor, Nisha Ray, richard Tank (sorry to hear about your dad), carl rauth (Switzerland), Hemmy Cho, Ross Michael, Ant Miller, Philip Trippenbach, Matt Locke, Bruce Weir, Rowan de Pomerai (the iphone put me in hospital), Marc Price, Sarah Blow, Samantha Chadwick, Julian Tait, Pukul Rana, Rachael Turner, Pauline Randall, Delia Stearnes, Bahi P, Herb Kim, Thelma Jones (racine, USA, sarahs mum), Jon Jacob, Farooq Ansari, David Marks, Harold Cattron, and Sheila Farrell.

If I missed you in either thank you’s, I’m very sorry I only checked a few places and couldn’t put down all the text messages, emails and voicemails I got over the last few weeks. The cards were slightly special because the nurses and my parents was able to read them out to me when I was sleeping.

I want everyone to know this is a very serious condition but I’m doing alright now. I do have memory lost which is really ignoying but I honestly its not that bad (only forget the rarest things like ex-girlfriends names – whoops!). It could have been a hell of a lot worst.

People have been asking me could it happen again? No honestly it can’t. Why do I know? It was all down to the amount of work and the fact that I have High Blood Pressure but never did anything about it. Hence the bleed in the brain which was the brain releasing some pressure. However this manfest its self with a bleed on the brain which is deeply worrying. So as I said I could have been a veggie with a ventilator for company but I got away lightly with some memory lost and a slightly weak body. The body will get stronger and my brain will fill in the things I can’t remember. Generally I think I got away with murder. People still can’t believe the time to recovery from waking up to being ready to leave (about a week or so) I was in hospital for about 3 weeks before that. A very short period of time going by what the nurses was saying to my parents.

So I’m one of the lucky ones and I know it. Thanks to everyone and I really mean it… I might not have been here if it wasn’t for the great thinking of a few people and the contuning support of people around me like the ones mentioned above and in part 1.

People always ask me what I remember, so here’s what I remember

The only thing I really remember about that time was waking up on Saturday when the cleaner was banging on the door trying to get in on Saturday morning to clean the flat. I woke up and thought Tim will wake up and let her in because I got a headache and couldn’t be frankly be bothered to get up and let her in. That was the last thing I remember, I don’t remember anything else till I woke up in hospital with my parents and sister standing over me. My mums voice willing me to open my eyes. I don’t remember going for a meal or anything like what happened in my bathroom let alone my bedroom. I don’t remember going for a meal or eating hob nobs or anything, the whole time from the UK elections to a week ago is blank. I’m surprised the iphone 4 came out today, before this all happened gizmodo just landed a scoop of the year finding a iphone4 in a bar

Thank you to you all…from the very bottom of my heart….

Thank you part 1

Thanks to everyone

I want to thank from the very bottom of my heart everyone that was involved in my recovery. It was a very scary time for everyone involved and the bleed in my head has left me with a little memory lost and a little weak but I’m mainly ok. It could have been a lot worst, I could have ended up not remembering anything or even a vegetable from the bleed in my head.

In my time in hospital I had a lot of time to think about things and what I had done with my life up till now. I’d not done too bad specially after looking at the support I was getting from cards, visits, twitter, etc. I’m proud to have touched so many of your lifes, and you all remember.

So although I will thank everyone theres a few people I owe my life to, and thats not me being over dramatic its the truth almost no matter how you look at it.

First my mum for her strength of character never giving up on me no matter what happened or what I did. She travelled up from Bristol to Manchester a lot and stayed in hotels and a strange flat with my flat mate. She was amazing and did everything in her power to aid my recovery. Travelling up and down has made her even more independent and I love her for it. Theres nothing like waking up in hospital with your mum hovering above you calling your name. She was excellent at the hospital when complaining and when trying to find out what’s happening.

My dad wasn’t up as much but was there in spirit. He cried a lot for me and wished for my health unfortunately he had to deal with sale of the family house and moving everything pretty much himself. So although not always by my bed he was keeping everything on track in the background. This meant my mum could focus on me while my dad kept things ticking along in the background.

My Sister for lending my mum the money to make the trips up to Manchester but also making multiple trips to be by my and my mum side. Its a long trip from South London and she was up and down like a yoyo. I know we haven’t been that close in the past but we will be in the future. I remember her smiley face standing over me when I finally woke up. And I’m sorry for slagging off her little system for communicating with people when you can’t talk. I only slag it off because you can never hope to capture all the unique things about a language. Which makes it hard to communicate still.

Sarah (my ex-wife) for looking out for my mum in her moment of need. Not only was she the brains behind the caringbridge site but also she printed stuff out and took my verbal blog posts when I couldn’t blog. She also brought me lost and flash forward which was great. No certainly out did herself and made me proud to have married her all that time ago. I’m glad shes now found someone who will make her truly happy but this experience has certaitly brought us closer together after a very nasty diviroce over a year ago. She is now a close friend that I hold in high regard.

Ross and Carley, What more could I ask of friends? You both certaily stepped up to the plate and made me feel a lot more at home. I remember laughing for the first time with Ross and how much it hurt with the venterlator still inside. However I couldn’t help but laugh because it was great having them at my bedside. Hopefully the trip and funky hotels you had to stay in was worth the hassle. If anything ever was to happen to the kids I’d be there like a shot, of course hoping nothing ever does.

@tdobson thanks for looking out for me, I know it took a while to get me out of the house and to the hospital. I know its odd because I’m the older and should be looking out for you and all that but you did roughly the right thing. You may have saved my life.

@adew for taking me to hospital in the end. He cleverly dropped in hints about going to hospital and not being very well but still slight off my usual form, I let him drive me to hospital where they thought I had meningitis! To be fair they weren’t to know I had a bleed on the brain which was slowly affecting my judgement, balance and general function. Like wise you may have saved my life.

Thanks for all the twitters

@surial, @kevglobal, @billt, @tomcoates, @mario, @girlygeekdom (sorry I couldn’t see you when you were up, it just wasn’t the right time)‎, @rainycat (and thanks for the cd, which I enjoyed), @billt, @loudmouthman, @Cordobo, @ssethi, @tommorris, @nicferrier (I’ll loved to be in techgrumps, could moan about apple all day), @psd, @thinkingdigital, @jas (yeah excellent to see my email in @wireduk even if it was edited down. @anniemole, @freecloud, @thinkingdigital, @anniemole, @freecloud, @ssethi, @libbymiller, @smc_mcr (thanks again for the Yamaha Tenori-O I used it a bit but not much), @rachelclarke, @stevieflow, @herbkim (thanks for the very moving tribute, when they told me I was seriously shocked, I also haven’t forgotten the offer of the meal, but maybe when I’m a little better), @jeniT, @philhawksworth (lost out of order not the best idea agreed), @anniemole, @richquick (werewolf lose on the island really?) @imran (now you’re like me, nice!) @jonthebeef, @sicross, @adactio (and thanks again for the message from An event apart in Boston, amazing to see and hear), @tomscott, @freecloud interesting study., @matlock, @dotdean, @cbgreenwood, @stevecla, @kevinprice, @nevali, @reyes, @nickycast, @paolability, @tonychurnside, @si_lumb (see you on xbox live soon), @rajm, @ruby_gem, @rnalexander, @franticuk, @davemee, @nickycast, @defnetmedia, @meeware (thanks for coming up and seeing me in hospital and seeing me in weston as well as taking over the backstage blog/mailinglist while I am away), @defnetmedia, @nevali, @coralgrainger, @insidethem60, @oonagh_j, @adew (thanks for everything again, I won’t be in work for some time as you can imagine), @souterconsults, @sheilaellen (thanks for visiting me and showing me i can leave the ward without telling anyone, still got your money), @davecoveney, @methodan, @richardhudson, @suw (sorry to drop the ball in the middle of the project, but I got a good excuse), @brianamc, @realfreshtv, @jemimakiss (thanks for the words on twitter), @mamk, @matthewcashmore, @mamk, @davelynch, @mamk, @_richardg, @cbetta (I wasn’t in a coma) , @davelynch, @mario, @kevglobal, @davecoveney, @methoddan, @richardhudson, @methoddan, @davecovenery, @souterc, @oonagh_j, @coralgrainger, @defnetmedia, @tdobson (and thanks for everything as mentioned before), @gezd, @vivdora, @ocenician (series of spanish art?), @mmetcalfe (i didn’t expect you to be watching lost), @tbush, @sofia, @doctoe (hope you are well), @billt (not much I can do about being in London in September sorry. @foodiesarah, @meeware, @mamk, @soullastylianou, @ignesco, @sdn_photography, @ignesco, @rarepleasures, @fcw, @matt512, @stephenknights, @markng (thanks for the sweet words), @jot, @jaggeree, @_richardg, @cordobo, @Sdn_Photography, @rajmarshall. And to everyone else who wrote in sent me a card (I will write a special thank you post just for the cards when I get back to Manchester). If your name isn’t in the list above fear not, its simply because I didn’t see your post on twitter for what ever reason. This could be because twitter doesn’t go that far back in history or because it simply was missed by me and google’s cache. I know a lot of people also wrote to me personally via email as they didn’t want to write something public, thank you to all of them.

Thanks to everyone

A few noticeable recent changes

One step closer to moving to Islington Wharf, now I actually have a deposit down on the flat I wanted. I’m just waiting on Plumlife to agree I’m able to join there scheme (which was ok last year, so not expecting any upset) and then I can apply for the mortgage (which shouldn’t be a problem this time due to the highly motivated mortgage advisor I got). After which I should be able to get everything going and maybe move next month or so.

On the computer front, I just upgraded my Dell Laptop from a 120gig to 320gig and then gave it a brand new Ubuntu install. Not only did I upgrade it but I also switched to the i86_64 version as my laptop runs a Intel Core 2 duo 2 chipset. No idea why I’ve never done it before but early indication says so far the resource control over the applications and switching is much better and I’m shocked at how smooth things are. Don’t get me wrong the x86 version was fine but there is certainly something extra about the 64bit version. What is strange is the amount of memory available to the machine, it still indicates there is about 3gig of memory available (3262meg) not the full 4gig. I also have a couple of problems with getting Dropbox and XBMC working. Plus settings for Firefox, evolution and gnome wifi networking didn’t transfer over so well. Which is a pain. I can still boot into my old 32bit partition using a usb enclosure which means if I knew where the correct files were I could drag them over easily enough.

Finally Orange are being a pain in the ass and I can’t now upgrade my phone till August, which means the HTC Desire isn’t the phone it is now. Even the HTC Incredible will be old news. Maybe the Dell Lightning and Mini5’s will be of interest? Anyway in the meanwhile, it seems Android running on the HTC Touch HD or Blackstone has progressed to a point where the screen does not always stay on and so the battery doesn’t die within a few hours. Actually if you turn off Wifi, it will last a day which isn’t bad. So most of the time I’ll have my phone running Android in the near future. I just need to get the settings for 3G/HSDPA and work out how to divert the sound to the headphones instead to the loudspeaker.

The inhert flaw with paying for dating sites

OkCupid has another excellent break down of dating sites, this time its showing how the business models of eHarmony, Match.com and others are conflicting with users finding each other on the site.

If you’ve ever joined a paid for site or even interacted with one in anyway, you will instantly recognise this problem, and this is just the start of the problems.

As you can see from the flow chart, the only way they don’t make money is to show subscribers to other subscribers. It’s the worst thing they can do for their business, because there’s no potential for new profit growth there. Remember: the average account length is just six months, and people join for big blocks of time at once, so getting a new customer on board is better for them than eking another month or two out of a current subscriber. To get sign-ups, they need to pull in new people, and they do this by getting you to message their prospects.

If you’re a subscriber to a pay dating site, you are an important (though unwitting) part of that site’s customer acquisition team. Of course, they don’t want to show you too many ghosts, because you’ll get frustrated and quit, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re relying on you your messages are their marketing materials to reach out to non-payers and convince them, by way of your charming, heartfelt messages, to pull out their credit cards. If only a tiny fraction of your message gets a response, hey, that’s okay, you’re working for free. Wait a second…you’re paying them.

There is a nasty speed dating service which I used once, which adds its results to a paid for dating service. Luckily everyone who was at the event could message each other if they both gave each other ticks in the speed dating section but you would also get loads of messages from people who were paid for members, so you couldn’t read the actual message. Of course most of the actual messages would be from spammers. Weirdly, I’ve gotten more spam from the paid for services that the free one. Maybe another investigation for OKTrends?

Urgently on the look for hot properties

It was about a year ago when I went looking for a place to buy in Manchester and the new islington or ancoats part of the city centre (East Manchester) was looking pretty attractive. This time around I’m much more secured in my mortgage and how much I can spend (although thats not a lot due to a base line deposit) so hopefully this time around it the question really will be Chips or Islington Wharf ?

Fake passport or over sensitive policing?

I tweeted at 19:33, 15th Jan from Amsterdam Airport – Sitting in airport police in amsterdam airport, they think my passport is faked

I had come back from Amsterdam after giving a talk at Follow the Money conference about BBC Backstage, Everthing was going well and I had plenty of time to catch up with some of the CES coverage using Boxee but when I got to passport control things seemed to be taking too long to look at my passport. About 10 people passed me on the other booth while I was standing there watching this police officer messing with a small microscope type thing. I was prepared for the questioning I usually only get at flights into Chicago O’Hare. But it never happened. Instead someone else came to the booth and the agents talked for a second in dutch, then the first one came out of the booth and gestured for me to follow him into a room less that 5 meters away.

Yep its one of those backrooms where theres people coming in and out. Massive mirror you just know isn’t a mirror, I was sure it was a 2 way mirror or I was being paranoid. When i sat down there was a woman who had gotten a new passport and something was missing from it. Not sure but a phone call later, she was up and out of the room. I waited while 2 officers looked over my passport, one with a microscope. After a while they left it on the table. A new guy came in from eastern europe and sat next to me. His passport also was suspect I assumed.

Anyway after about 30mins, we both get moved to a new location, I swear it was on the opposite side of the airport for another sit down for another 30mins while a 3rd officer looks at the passport under some machine. The officer walking us down said it was quicker to go down there, than send my passport down there and wait for it to come back. After a while of waiting it was decided that maybe the passport was fine and that the RFID tag might be a little faulty or something. Those rfid chips in passports are bull I was told I was free to go but I should follow the officer back through the back way to make the plane.

The trek to the gate was fast and frantic. They had left me about 20mins before the airplane closes its door which would be fine if I was super fit like these dutch officers. Being marched down to my gate so I don’t miss my plane. This airport feels like 10 miles long, but I’m out and coming home

It was certainly a struggle keeping up through the miles of tunnels and doors. I quickly grabbed a few gifts in the shop and boarded the plane back home. Only to be stuck in a queue for 50mins on the UK side because of new passport checks… Geez, I slept well that night…

New Year Resolutions 2010

So I’ve already done a review of 2009, so its time for my 2010 resolutions.

Go skiing on real snow
This is a carry over from 2009. I really need to just go do this, specially since there is a fake skiing place in Manchester’s Trafford Centre.
Blog more
Since Twitter, i’ve been blogging a lot less. This needs to stop as this is my base and twitter isn’t. Although I can aggregate with things like storytlr, i’m very interested the support for the twitter/open-microblogging api by wordpress/automatic.
A better routine and live more healthy
Goes without saying really but I’m already signed up to PureGym the 24hour Gym but need a doctors note saying I’m not going to die of a asthmatic attack if I use a running machine before I can go for the introduction. I’m also attempting to go to sleep before 2am every night and wake up at a decent time. I need to go to more comedy clubs too.
Kick off Manchester werewolf night again
We started playing werewolf in Manchester at the start of last year as a monthly thing in the BBC bar but moved it out to Space soon after as we got more people. I want to grow it a little and run a couple special one-off’s around events like FutureEverything and other conferences in the city. Actually the 1st one of the year will be Wednesday 3rd Feb if your interested.
Find my perfect development stack
I was meant to be learning Python but it just didn’t feel right for me. Apache Cocoon 2.1 is still my baby and I use it for all types of little bits and pieces but Cocoon 2.2 and 3.x are completely different. I could/maybe should learn how use them and the new Maven approach, Maven also seems to work well in Eclipse and Netbeans (didn’t I mention I like Netbeans).
I like the idea of XQuery specially because it does most of the things I want to do in my web applications. Add in Exist DB the open source xml database and I got a complete backend stack. I’m also still liking the idea behind ZK to ease with the front end, although I know everyone is loving a javascript library over a complete framework. Lastly I’m looking more and more into XProc but I don’t feel this will help with my development stack.
Playout live more
I’m going out clubbing more which is great but I’m feeling the need to playout/dj out loud. There’s not many trance clubs in Manchester and I’ve already tried to join the Rong Trance night via a competition. So heck why not setup my own night? Well it looks like I found a venue (TV21 in the Trendy Northern Quarter) and a couple other djs who also want to play out live. So who knows…
Use even more graphics
Inkscape, napkin sketches, raytracing are all working for me. Now I’m sketching on my ebook reader in some meetings so I just need better ways to integrate them into my presentations and work.
Upgrade sooner if it makes a noticeable difference
Sometimes I wait too long to upgrade software and hardware. For example I waited till my old battery only holds 12% charge before getting a new one. This is fine but having to go to meetings next door with a power adapter is a pain. I should have bought a new battery ages ago. I also waited too long to upgrade to Gwibber 2.0 for sure. This also extends to other stuff for example I just bought some new trainers after 3+ years of wearing the last one to near collapse. All this stuff is worth just buying earlier to avoid all the stresses which go into keeping the previous generation alive. Talking of which I really should upgrade my camera to a DSLR soon.
Be involved in a regular podcast
I started one with a few friends but we never really got it off the ground due to our pretty hectic lifestyles. However now I know I can do skype over my Orange HSDPA connection and it still sounds great, I should be able to do it from anywhere I am. So its just a matter of being committed really.
Buy a flat in Central Manchester
People have been wondering what happened with this. Well it was all happening then the mortgage deposits when from 10% to 20% across all lenders, which ruled me out of buying a 2 bedroom place. However this year I’m confident that I’ll be on the property ladder again. Although I’m thinking maybe I should consider one bedroom places too.
Avoid all online services which don’t perform to my acceptable levels of data portability
Its 2010, theres no need for closed systems which don’t talk to anything else. No OpenID or OAuth? You won’t see me signing up in the future. Can’t get my data out on to my own site via some API? forget about it, I’m not even going to venture near it.
Play more games
I love games but never play enough of them. There’s a whole selection of great games which I’ve not played which I think I’m missing out on. For example I bought Portal the other day for a day when I’m sick and need to stay in. Theres some amazingly inspiring games out there which must be played.

My New Year Resolutions of 2009

So its about time to start looking into the future again and making those resolutions… Looking at the previous ones for 2009 things have not gone exactly to plan.

Go skiing on real snow
Didn’t happen, will have to carry this one over…
Work and execute a Alternative Reality Game
Also didn’t happen, but I may have to sub this one for writing a book
Build up a better routine
Its starting to happen but not quite yet, but give it a little more time and things will be better. I’m going start getting up earlier and go to bed earlier that currently.
Work smarter, with less pace and less stress
This is happening, but there is still smarter ways I could be working. I’ll try and document some of this too of course.
Go out more and be live more heathly
Yep, I think I’ve drunk more beer and wine this year that ever before. So I’m certainly going out a lot more but living more heathly, not quite. This year that will change.
Be more daring with matters of the heart
Yeah I’m not doing so bad there… Between OKCupid, Speed Dating, etc I’ve done a reasonable job enjoying myself and not holding back.
Start organising Werewolf and Werewolf+ nights in the North
Started well but dropped the ball a bit half way through the year when barcamp, tedx, etc kicked in. I should certainly get this going again, as I do enjoy a good game of Werewolf.
Build a web application
So I got a couple of kick ass ideas which I do want to build and with my new thoughts about using Xquery instead of Python, means I’m a lot more likely to build what I’m thinking in my spare time.
Blog every film I watch
So I started doing this via twitter using the hashtags film and movie but due to twitters archiving system, they got sucked away before I noticed. Someone pointed me towards 140 film review. So who knows maybe I might use that or come up with some simple Xquery to pull my reviews into a storage container using Twitter/Indenti.ca
Read more
This has happened a lot, since I bought my ebook reader I’ve read about 15 books in about 4x the speed I usually would. I can see this increasing in the future.
More Trance music
I’ve not done may trance mixes recently but once I get this competition mix out the way I’ll be uploading them regularly again. I’m also making a habit of listening to Armin Van Buuren and other dj shows at work and making a note of top tunes. I also noticed I spent about 150 pounds last year on tunes from AudioJelly and Juno.
Lots more graphics
Yep this is happening, I’m also getting faster at drawing in inkscape and explaining the after graphics. I’m hoping next year to be able to do complete presentations based on the graphs alone. I’m also going to start using some of the techniques Dan Roam uses in the back of the napkin

I’m loving my Blender

I bought a blender after years of wanting one. Amazing purchase, nice modern design and reasonable cheap at only 25 pounds. So far I've made some amazing smoothies since.

Last night I threw in 3 granny smith apples, about 6 ice cubes, juice of one orange, a squeeze of lemon juice and a small spoon of brown sugar. Let the blender go to work on the lot and out popped this green stuff which looked like crushed lemongrass. But it tasted so good, like a ice junkie you get from cinemas but without the stupid amounts of sugar. In actual fact I was getting 2 of my 5 fruits for the day.

Today, Green Grapes, Cranberries, Blueberries mixed together till it goes all pink, served in a large tall glass, yum yum.