thoughts, ideas, projects and musings
Archive for life
January 20, 2008 at 6:12 pm · Filed under life
Seriously, customer service is going to absolute pot in this country. I despair sometimes at the highs and lows experienced, often in the same visit.
The high point: We received a text message from IKEA Bristol saying that a cot we’ve been after for months had finally arrived in stock. That is fantastic service and is to be applauded.
The low point: We then made a special journey to IKEA on the back of the text message only to find that whilst it was technically in stock, it was certainly not available, sitting as it was high up on a shelf, far too high for a customer to shop it.
The high point: I complained. Strongly. Stated that it was ‘crazy’, ‘foolish’, ‘ridiculous’, ‘unfair’ that we had made a special journey on the back of a text message only to find that we couldn’t get the cot we needed. The staff looked sheepish and started ringing people. Eventually, after explaining to the store manager that there was an ‘incident’ (nice! I’d caused an incident!), the staff were given permission to get a ladder and get it down.
Shopping really shouldn’t be this hard. Customer service really shouldn’t be this contrary.
January 17, 2008 at 9:18 pm · Filed under digital life, life
Oh it’s probably wrong to be vanity posting in this way! There are now 20 people in the photo a day (ish) (PADI) project, approximately 20 new photos a day and yet I’ve chosen one of my own to share!
This is no classic, but it’s a nice little look into domestic life. It’s just a fridge, but it’s also a fun playzone, a noticeboard, a shopping list holder!
I was working at home today so no time to get out with my camera and take photos. If you work from home, home is all you see. The fridge is my friend: it stores the milk for my tea.
May 15, 2007 at 11:56 am · Filed under digital life, life
Facebook is a rapidly growing internet phenomenon, with thousands signing themselves up daily. It started at Harvard University, spread to other academic institutions across the US and then ultimately to Europe and beyond.
But what’s the point?
Unlike other social networking sites, the point of facebook appears to be the ability to form social groups with other people, based on your education, your home town, your workplace or your social interests. Once there, you can leave snippets, mini-feeds : Jon is going to the shops, Jon is washing his hair. Trust me thousands of people leave these pointless notelets all over the internet on a daily basis.
But be warned, facebookers : Facebook is being read by people that you might not ordinarily expect. I shall not name names, but I know of university lecturers who are reading their students’ facebook entries. Telling stuff – turns out Joanne Bloggs wasn’t ill yesterday, transpires she was suffering from a bear-slaying hangover. Why would you want people to know about this?
I was copied in on an email from a lecturer only today which tells the story rather clearly. To quote :
Just a word of warning to you all. Social networking (My Space, Facebook etc.) is a great tool for getting in touch with people, finding out about people, wasting time when you should be working etc.
However, I have some HR contacts who have also realised its value. So, before joining a group supporting the torching of university property, or supporting Jeremy Clarkson as Prime Minister, just think of what that employer who was going to pay you £30k on graduation will think when he checks you out on facebook. The problem when you get turned down for a job is that usually you’ll never know why!
Yes, think twice – do you really want your lecturer, your tutor, your potential employer or partner really reading the minutae of your life? People are reading and they’re learning about you through your webfootprint, and it’s not all positive.
Think before you write. On the other hand, if you’re thinking of recruiting, check facebook.com.
May 5, 2007 at 1:24 pm · Filed under digital life, life
I was at Internet World 2007 in London this week and spoke to many companies about the meaning and value of web 2.0. Amongst the ‘definitions’ proffered included “nice, rounded corners” and “AJAX-style web page loading”, elements of which I suspect you’ll find in books. Neither, of course, are true in their entireity.
Web 2.0 is neither a language nor a graphics style, but is certainly a definition of content and interactivity on a website. Once upon a time (let’s call it web 0 for clarity), webmasters wrote content for others to read, and read it we did. We couldn’t interact, we couldn’t connect further and the content was static, unless the content provider chose to update it.
Then came interactivity (web 1.0) – comments, discussion threads or even guestbooks. It allowed users to add something to the page, but the subject was still defined by the site owner.
This new age, web 2.0 if you really wish to give it a label, is about networks of people creating their own collaborative content, commentary or purpose within a framework defined by the site owner. Content or value is rarely provided, it’s created only by those that visit.
But what’s the point of all of this? If you’ve visited some of the well known examples of web 2.0, you’d be hard pushed to identify it. Clear leaders in online social networks and SN-derived content, such as MySpace and Facebook leave me cold – they’re kind of online pub conversations that in the main, would be greatly enhanced by having a pint in hand.
Zopa.com has demonstrated a practical application of social networking that may herald the start of something new. It’s classic 2.0 of course in that the site owners create the framework, the readers the content. In zopa.com’s case, it’s an introduction service for those that want money to those that have it to lend. In doing so, you cut out the middle men, such as banks, and therefore keep the costs lower. You also have the advantage of personalising what might otherwise be a cold, financial, commercial arrangement. In an online way, you actually know your lendor.
Keep your eye on this one : impressively, they facilitated the loaning of £83k yesterday. Not much of course given the size of the financial markets in the UK, but it’s a start.
[As an aside, I was talking with a friend from University days this week about social networking and it's value in a commercial environment, such as intranets. He has a degree in human geography and likened this collaborative age of the internet to academic studies of societies. We've much to learn about the internet from 60 year old published papers]
April 25, 2007 at 8:39 am · Filed under life
Today, I’m being interviewed by DeGroof for your delight.
If your income suddenly doubled, how would your lifestyle change?
I don’t think it would change my plans or my ambitions particularly, but I do think it would mean I realise them a little quicker. Instead of saving, I’d be able to do whatever I wished immediately. That would be nice.
I guess the only major change would be that I’d be tempted to buy a second property somewhere.
What was the best meal you’ve ever eaten?
An easy question. My wife and I got engaged at The Fat Duck restaurant which was voted the best restaurant in the world. (It’s now number 2). It was then inkeeping with our engagement that we celebrated our marriage with a meal for two at The French Laundry restaurant, in Yountville California - another much lauded restaurant. It was staggering : 13 courses of the finest food and best wine you can imagine. We were very well looked after and got to meet Thomas Keller afterwards. Thoroughly recommended.
Who is the most famous person you’ve ever met?
At the age of 12, I met Gerald Ford and whilst at university, I met Mikhial Gorbachev. I’m curiously proud to say that I’ve met leaders of the world’s two superpowers (well, I know one isn’t a superpower now, but you get the gist)
What was the worst date you’ve ever had?
Not a fan of dates, or many other dried fruits.
One-eyed : Cyclops :: Two-faced : ?
Politician?
Thank you Steve for your excellent questions. I hope I’ve given them due consideration. And so it’s over to you :
I am also contractually obligated to post the following rules:
1. If you want to be interviewed by me, leave me a comment saying “Interview Me”.
2. I will respond by asking you five questions of my choice.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to my questions.
4. You will include these rules, and offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
April 23, 2007 at 4:26 pm · Filed under life
An office conversation went a little like this : What’s your favourite song? It’s virtually impossible for me to answer. It’ll depend on the time of day, the time of year, my mood, so much. Easier, although not without heart-searching, is to name my top 20. I’ll do that another time for you.
One criteria I have used to identify a ‘top track’, is it’s versitility. Tracks that stand up to the mauling of a cover version are, in general, good tracks. Stronger still are those tracks that seem to survive cover into a different genre. Some are even revived by the process.
And so it was that I came across four excellent cover versions in the last year or so, all of which take the original track into a new genre.
Nirvana in bigband style? Listen to Paul Anka singing Smells Like Teen Spirit
Joy Division with a chill accoustic treatment? Try Nouvelle Vague doing Love will tear us apart
Radiohead as funk? Get your head round Mark Ronson’s version of Just
White Stripes as Jazz Funk? Gotta be Joss Stone doing Fell in love with a boy.
Fantastic.
April 17, 2007 at 9:28 am · Filed under life
It struck me today what a talented bunch of friends I have.
The National Novel Writing Month competition (NaNoWriMo) is held each November with each participant attempting to write a 50,000 word novel in the month. Last time round, 80,000 people started, 13k people finished with over 980 million words in their collective novels. Two friends, Calum and k_sra gave it a go last time out and I’m tempted to try the same this year.
A university friend, Euan, is also a published novelist. I’m impressed and rather humbled by their collective talents. I’m tempted to try in November but, as Euan has already expressed, my first attempt is likely to be drivel, so maybe I should write my first novel now and follow it up with a much better effort in November?
50 thousand words? I struggle to find a 100 to write here.
*Novel Writing Friends Worldwide. The url is available if you fancy it. Picture taken by lo83.
April 16, 2007 at 8:13 am · Filed under digital life, life
Hard to argue isn’t it? Look at the little lovely!
kittenwar is an ridiculously cute website showing mock battles betwix live living kittens. Not real wars of course as I understand most legal jurisdictions rule against that kind of thing. Dudley, my black cat, has won an impressive 3057 battles.
He’s all grown up now and is still a daft pilchard.
On a related note, I’m rather intrigued by the names that people give their pets. Mine are an obvious homage to Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, but really, what inspires someone to call their beautiful little kitten “killer“?
April 15, 2007 at 1:55 pm · Filed under life
My formative years were spent in the town of Rickmansworth, close to a slightly bigger place called Watford. Of both, that’s the most interesting thing one can say. They were vanilla, plain flavoured places where one grew up but nothing else happened. It was here that I first followed football, with Watford being my chosen football club.
Nothing much happens to Watford FC too, or it didn’t until the nearly 100 years of it’s history had passed. The 80s were a marvellous decade for Watford, our yellow kit was almost fashionable.
And again, in the last 2 years, things have started to happen. Promotion, cup semi-finals, it’s all go. And yesterday we went to a semi-final. We lost of course, but it was a hell of a lot of fun.
Enjoy it as if you were there by clicking through to this youtube link. Don’t worry about the guys in red, it’s the smart chaps in yellow that you should be cheering along.
April 8, 2007 at 7:10 pm · Filed under life
Way back, when this jon was actually a geologist, I carried out a mapping exercise around Loch Buie, Isle of Mull. If that sentence made no sense, allow me to expand a little.
Before the late 90s or there abouts, if you were studying Earth Sciences at university anywhere in the UK, you had to complete a mapping exercise in the summer between your second and third years. The process was to identify a 5km by 5km block of the world somewhere, complete field research on the area and produce a geological map. The map was, in my case, also accompanied by a 10 thousand word mini-thesis on the geological history.
There were many problems with this type of project work. Your heart said “go somewhere warm”, countered by your head with concerns of cost. We were students, it needed to be cheap. Secondly, it was incredibly dangerous as one would be out for 8 hours a day, alone and in quite nasty terrain. All said, we survived, but the practise died due to health and safety concerns.
The trick too was to find an area that already had a map – yes, exactly. Nearly all the world is geologically mapped, so getting a copy of the one in already in existance certainly made life somewhat easier. You couldn’t copy it of course (that would be plagarism), but it was an incredibly useful guide.
And so, 8 weeks later, my map of the Laggan Peninsula, Loch Buie, Isle of Mull was produced and a reasonably competant piece of work it was too. I knew that area of the island intimately. No stone was left unturned (pun fully intended). Even now, some 14 years after I completed my work, I don’t suppose anyone, even the landowners, know it as well as I.
Today though, an interesting email came my way, asking questions about what I had found there and proposing a field trip. I’m delighted and scared : It was 14 years ago and even though the rocks were formed 65 million years prior, what if they’d changed? Never-the-less, it might well happen. jonthegeologist rises again!
« Previous entries ·
Next entries »
Blog RSS