2010 in review
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.
Crunchy numbers
A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,400 times in 2010. That’s about 3 full 747s.
In 2010, there were 9 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 37 posts. There were 16 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 14mb. That’s about a picture per month.
The busiest day of the year was January 1st with 46 views. The most popular post that day was Men Are Happier.
Where did they come from?
The top referring sites in 2010 were twitter.com, counter.bestproceed.com, madhatters.me.uk, ravingsfromtheblogdweller.wordpress.com, and facebook.com.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for flybe, sedentary life, fiat 132, fiat 132 top manager, and no alibis belfast.
Attractions in 2010
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
Men Are Happier January 2010
1 comment
Regrets October 2009
1 comment
Chasing The Jockey November 2009
4 comments
Chomsky November 2009
1 comment
Demon Dog November 2009
1 comment
Downtime
I’ve been spending time listening to audiobooks on my iPod lately. As a sometimes manic person, I appreciate the chance to fill the time with something productive while driving.
My first audiobook was Graham Swift’s The Light of Day. I had already read the book but was so taken with it, and the fact that Kenneth Cranham was the reader, that I bought it on CD. The convenience of having something decent to listen to while driving was my main reason, as you cannot rely on the frequency or quality of Radio 4 plays for entertainment. It was also the last book I bought on CD. All my purchases since then have been on iTunes.
When I started my six month secondment in the Republic of Ireland, I knew I would be driving a lot more and stocked up. Titles such as Money, Scoop, The Great Gatsby, Hard Times, Catch 22 and a favourite, The Quiet American, now on my iPod and I’m working my way through them.
This opportunity allows me to listen to books that I normally wouldn’t buy. I have over thirty books sitting variously beside my bed at home, in my car and in my laptop bag, some of which I’ve had for a few years. And yet, I added another two purchases yesterday!
At first glance, the price can seem daunting. £16.95 for Money seemed expensive, but it is sixteen hours and thirty minutes long and in my view is good value per hour.
There are abridged versions as well as unabridged versions available for some titles. I buy only the full versions. The various readers can make a big difference to the enjoyment of the book. Kenneth Cranham sounds like he was born for the role in The Light of Day, but in my current read, At Home by Bill Bryson read by the author; his mid-Atlantic accent grates a little, especially given the subject matter. An enjoyable and interesting book so far, though.
My only non-fiction titles so far have been Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson (which put me right off the guy!) and the War of the Worlds, by historian Niall Ferguson – recommended!
Gowalla – Why?
Gowalla
Following a fair few Tweets from Gowalla users, I decided to give the application a go recently. I have been “checking in” for over a week now and I’m still at a loss to explain to myself why I’m doing it.
I’ve achieved a few “stamps” and added five or six new locations around Bangor and Belfast but that seems to be where the “fun” ends. Other than the opportunity to add a few humourous comments to my check-ins, which I could easily do by Tweeting and geo-tagging my Tweets, what else is there?
When thinking about the program, I wonder what the business model is. I can imagine that when there are enough spots created across the planet (one of mine was number 928,345!), there may be an opportunity to “sell” a geo-location based coupon or voucher system to retailers. A similar system is reportedly being planned by Apple for the next generation of iPhones and indeed, an advertising platform was mentioned by Apple within the last week.
However, the Gowalla database relies on users populating it with accurate information, something that in the short time I have been using it, isn’t happening. For example, I was standing directly outside (within six feet) of the Cookie Box in Belfast. The system wouldn’t allow me to check in as it had the Cookie Box 548 metres to the east. A number of other locations had two versions of the same check in spot hundreds of metres apart.
This is a bit of a shame, as the website and the iPhone programme are bright, user friendly and colourful. I also had a sense of camaraderie with the other users (those I know through Twitter anyway) which when relying on the early adaptors to spread the word about Gowalla, must be the Holy Grail for the designers and developers.
Perhaps I’m not the target demographic for this application? I don’t read Wired regularly, or code/design anything, and I may be missing some important element that would make it all click into place for me but I don’t get it. There’s no meat!
Anyone else care to enlighten me?
Vintage
I’ve hundreds of these old pieces of vintage sheet music from when I was selling them on Ebay. I used to import them via Ebay in packs of 100 which worked out around 53p each and then sold them, depending on my perception of their value and condition between £4.99 and £6.99. I did pretty well out of it for some time, until Ebay got greedy and bumped their charges up astronomically and made it uneconomical for me (and really pissed me off as well).
Over the couple of years that I had the Ebay shop, I had the pleasure of making some great sales to nice people across the world. There were a number of love stories from fairly elderly people about how this title they were buying was the music of their first dance together, and lots of sales to folk whose father, uncle or grandad wrote the lyrics/music/was in the big band featured on the cover. The main attraction for me, and at times it was uncomfortable to let go of some of them, was the beautiful artwork. I know that a number of buyers were buying the sheet music to frame it, rather than play it. But who can argue with a sale of £220 to someone in Japan?
They’re all now sitting in a piano stool waiting. Some date from the 1890s and others from as recent as the 1980s and they have that musty scent common to old paper items, with the occasional mouse mark on some of the corners. What are they waiting for? For someone to come up with a decent suggestion for what to do with them all. There’s no way they’re going into the recycling bin – they’re far too beautiful for that and they’re history of course!
Day Off Up North
I decided to take advantage of my extra day off this week to head north to Ballycastle, Ballintoy and Port Ballantrae to take a few snaps. I was blessed with some reasonable light and made my first stop in Ballycastle around 11:15. I’ve only ever been there once or twice before. Although it is fairly deserted at this time of year, I was made to feel welcome with numerous greetings from the locals. After coffee and a scone at Boyles, I headed off round the coast towards Ballintoy and crossed the Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge for the first time! The steps back up the hill seemed more daunting than the bridge itself. Stopping for numerous “photo breaks”, I finally reached the car park and drove to Port Ballantrae for lunch at the Bayview Hotel. Scrumptious scampi and chunky chips!
Overall, I was very taken with that part of our shoreline. I’ll be back.
Elemental Fear
I flew home from Birmingham this evening. I fly fairly often and am not nervous when I do but as usual, as the aircraft was turning onto the runway and then began to hurtle down the runway gathering speed, I thought to myself that this is the point of highest risk/least control. As usual also, everything was fine.
Worst landing ever in Belfast however, and I have been in some doozies! The wings were swing as much as six or eight feet coming into land due to crosswinds – first time I’ve ever grabbed for a sick bag which I thankfully didn’t need. Scary shit! I really expected that some part of the plane other than the wheels would touch the ground first.
Collective gasp from all concerned when we actually touched down – time for a Pampers 
I Wish…
This is a beautiful photograph taken by Flickr member, Wiggum03.
I find that Tumbler, Flickr and a couple of other sites continually amaze me with the range of excellent pictures and fascinating subjects which inspire me to greater lengths with my photography. I wish I had the skills to take a few like this one. Must try harder!
Lots to Lose
This was my “Oh Shit!” picture a few years ago. By that, I mean I said “OH SHIT!” look at the size of me. These pictures are more motivational for me than most other things. This one had a number of effects. I decided to grow a goatee again to cover some of the chin square footage and I lost around 28lbs. As my lovely brother in law said, I’d more chins than a Chinese telephone directory.
With all the talk of dieting at this time of the year, and every year as far back as I can remember, January is always a pain in the arse. I realised some years ago that Weight Watchers and other calorie counting systems didn’t work for me. Whilst I lost weight initially, the idea of counting calories in meals for the rest of my life to maintain whatever weight loss I achieved turned me off.
I also tried the Atkins Diet, which was also successful, for a while but got very bored with it, and again, it had a number of long term downsides, including potential kidney failure!
Which brings me to my current situation. I know what I should be eating and what I need to avoid. There are no grey areas for me; it is very clear. I also know that if I avoid crisps, biscuits, fried foods and get a modicum of exercise, I will lose weight. I am fully aware of the science. I don’t put salt on my food and I don’t take sugar on/in anything, etc. Why, then, is it so difficult?
It’s because I have all the willpower of a lemming. It is said that the brain is the biggest sex organ. I believe that it is also the biggest food organ!
Confession time! Yesterday for breakfast, I planned to have my usual Sultana Bran with a sliced banana – what I actually had was a Liberty Fry in Springsteen’s on the Lisburn Rd. For lunch I hoped to perhaps have soup and a roll or a sensible sandwich – what I actually had was The Godfather pasta with a portion of garlic bread in Springsteen’s on Botanic Ave. For tea, I had a tuna, sweet corn and cheese potato bake (on a champ base!) in Cafe Brasilia in Bangor. Yesterday evening, a packet of Tayto Cheese & Onion and the last three Roses sweets in the house. WTF?
What hope is there for me? I’m going to keep at it though. I’m hoping that by writing this confessional, I will be shaming myself into persevering, along with my various Twitter friends who are storming ahead. Go Guys!
Hi, my name is Colin and I’m a glutton
Flip Video
This is my first real attempt at taking some video on my new Flip video. It’s very easy to use and simple to upload onto my computer. I love it.
Men Are Happier
It’s true…
Your last name stays put. The garage is all yours. Wedding plans take care of themselves. Chocolate is just another snack. You can be President. You can never be pregnant. You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park. You can wear NO shirt to a water park… Car mechanics tell you the truth. The world is your urinal. You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is just too icky. You don’t have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt. Same work, more pay. Wrinkles add character. Wedding dress £3500 Tux rental-£75. People never stare at your chest when you’re talking to them. One mood all the time.
Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat.. A five-day holiday requires only one suitcase. You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness. If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still be your friend.
Your underwear is £3.99 for a three-pack. You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes. Everything on your face stays its original colour. The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades. You only have to shave your face and neck.
You can play with toys all your life. You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look. You can ‘do’ your nails with a pocketknife. You have freedom of choice concerning growing a moustache.
You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives on December 24 in 25 minutes.
