miserable failure

Ok. Just a quick post. You may already have tried this.... but, just use Google to search for 'miserable failure'. The results are gratifying.

Have been VERY busy for a few days growing older - but will be back posting soon!

Cat trouble

We have two kinds of cat trouble in our house. Minnie likes to keep up with world events by helping us with early morning surfing...

Sylvester however merely indulges in early morning suffering at the hands of the new, mean, black cat across the road who ABSOLUTELY destroyed him today. We had to collect his fur from the neighbours' lawn. Please help if you have any suggestions for how to deal with the dark destroyer. He has a taste for science diet... and blood, AND can silently flow through our catflap. What can we do????

Mediated

Hello Hello
I have been very busy for a few days, catching up with many chums from other times and shores - and my lovely family too! And that brings me to today's subject. I ordered a book from a high quality 'ish' ex-broadsheet newspaper a few weeks ago. It came on Saturday and I was so excited that I immediately started reading. The book is called Mediated by Thomas De Zengotita - and it seems to argue that increasingly all of our experiences come to us mediated - which in turn is influencing how we represent ourselves and how self-aware of ourselves as representations we are WHICH seemed kind of reasonable to me (because I want everyone to think of me as a reasonable person of course).

ANYWAY, I forgot all about this because my lovely sister and nephew arrived on Sunday for some fun by the sea. BUT it rained, so instead we had fun on the computer while Martin and Tony (lovely brother in law) watched Lance strut his stuff in yellow. I am getting to my point now.

Here is Jack, my lovely nephew learning to use the laptop

Can you see his little fingers going for the integral mouse???

Anyway, nothing would come between Jack and the CBeebies site except one thing: me taking his photo. Jack was more interested to see how he looked on the digi camera's screen than the Tweenies!!!! De Zengotita you are my fabulous person of the week. Thank you.

Social machines and continuous computing - Thank you Wade Roush

Well today I am going to be a little less frivolous. I spent some high quality time yesterday reading an article from MIT's Technology Review by Wade Roush. It is entitled 'Social Machines' and certainly provides food for thought. Web 2.0 is now firmly embedded in my lexicon (ABC The look of love and gold (lahmay) lame trousers always spring to mind when I hear that word), and 'RSS' is heading that way too!

However, I am most interested in Wade's suggestions that the new computing tools are fundamentally social, and that with them comes a greater desire for recognition and the ability to create more detailed 'true to life' (whatever that means) online identities. Having observed preteens using social network sites, I would have to say that the texts they construct purposefully do contribute to their desired online 'cultural personas' (Holland and Leander I thank you). In addition, the texts can be seen to contribute to their offline identities as well - and this continuity from on to off line (I will coin the phrase 'across the line/ through the line' drawing upon my past history in the heady world of advertising) is what fascinates me the most.

So, thank you Wade. I think you are marvellous, and have added you to my very select list of fellow bloggers.

A simple, but well intentioned act.

What not to wear on holiday

Life just gets better and better. First Dr Joolz, Hoolio and Victoria start to post comments. Then I notice that the lovely duo are back - Trinny and Suze to show us how to look good on the beach. It doesn't get much better does it? And I am glad - because frankly I am bored with BB and hoping desperately that they bring back Scary Mary and The one whose boobs are the biggest in Sheffield (or was it Uddersfield) (apart from her Nana's). Perhaps she will be featured in the aforesaid 'WNTWOH'.
Don't you just love a bit of circularity?

P.S. I have realised that my links are a little hard to spot in soft purple. How do I change their colour?

Simply yours X

Web 2.0 or not Web 2.0

I have learnt a little bit about Web 2.0 technologies today. I visited Marc Canter's site again (Kohl or Rimmel?) and followed the link to Thomas Vander Wal's blog in a quest to learn about my personal info cloud

Here I found out about
Not the old web of "I go get" but the new web of "come to me" .
and this, I understand is related to web 2.0 technologies.

I CAN'T WAIT for it to all come to me. Life will be so much easier when I have my own personal info cloud.

And that's my simple thought for today!

Weekend news

Here's my weekend news. I woke early on Saturday and decided to go to the supermarket. While there something most unpleasant happened. I noticed an unusual sensation in my gum - which developed into tingling and then numbness. I began to panic because I thought that that I might be having an anaphylactic reaction to something. My mum gets this and has to carry a stabby pen for emergencies. Anyway, I did what anyone would do... I phoned Martin while paying - and guess what. My battery gave out halfway through the message. Now this is not remarkable - my phone has needed charging more and more frequently recently - but, I have not bothered to do anything about it. SO I raced home in the car, watching my face swell up in the rear view mirror, feeling more and more numb, imagining my death - or at least a future with Bell's Palsy (which my Mum has also had) and was so shaken that I couldn't unload the shopping.

Now, in the meantime, Martin had checked out BP and anaphylaxis in his book (yes he really has a book about these things), and decided that I had neither. So he suggested that it was a reaction to having gone to the supermarket in the first place.

ANYWAY, the outcome was that my face eventually resensitized and deswelled (my terms), and I decided that the time had come to buy a new mobile phone, which of course would be as useful as a stabby pen if the unpleasant sensation was ever to recur.

BUT, instead of going to the Orange Shop I went to St Bridgets Garden Centre and bought this instead:

Here's another shot:

A great bargain, reduced in the sale, and very handy for reclining with a sudoku puzzle and a cup of tea. As you can see, Sylvester cannot be bothered with either, but has exceptionally clean paws.

FINALLY

Hasn't it been hot! So hot that my other cat, Minnie (our other cat - Sorry Martin), just keeps falling asleep anywhere. Here she is on the stairs:

Can you see her bald tummy?

That's all my simple thoughts for this weekend.

The last post

I am signing off today having learnt a lot about blogging. My friend Babs has never heard of 'blogs' and thinks that they should be renamed 'blags', 'blurs' or 'blobs'. She is a poet and ripe for entry into the digital age because she needs somewhere to publish her fabulous words. Here are some of hers, penned on demand at a residential poetry course as a means of introducing herself to the group:

INTRODUCTION

Christened Barbara
Am I the Barbarian,
the stranger?
Uncivilised, uncouth,
ready to conquer new lands,
unannounced,
without so much
as an invitation.

Or am I the Barbie
we know and love?
With her tidy limbs
and preset smile,
Vision of persistent charm,
preformed,
to entice men (called Ken)
to a life of plasticized ecstasy.

Yet some prefer Babs –
(as in Windsor not in Castle)
with it’s images of
bubbliness and blonde.
Or worse still Babes
when misspelt on my e mail,
heralding the arrival
of a torrent
of pornographic penpals.

It will be my mission to make Babes as famous as her brother You have to guess which one of the lovely pair that she shares her genes with! Now to end, I have tried to create a link to a young man who has been presenting at the TED Global conference: ZeFrank. I recommend his 'communication #' advice highly.

Ta-ra for now

Here I am in my helmet

Here I am at the magnificent Rimrock Hotel in Banff, having enjoyed a day skiing. I bought my helmet to protect my simple thoughts, as I have previously thumped my head very hard indeed (Whistler, 2004). Although I am frequently mistaken for a child when in my helmet, I seriously urge any fellow skiers who haven't yet tried one to give it a go. I LOVE mine, and often put it on in the evening. With it comes the feelings of peace and security associated with other evening time habits (that I don't indulge in as often).

Welcome

My third blog! Being quite simple, I lost the first, and became embarrassed about the second. Third time lucky as they say. This time I want to learn to do photos. This is my challenge. I have included it as part of my appraisal target list for 2005/6.
Anyway, off to find a photo and see if I can upload it! Wish me luck, and you may see me later.

At the top of the double black diamond (that I side stepped down in my helmet)