will

Personal Blog

Originally, this blog was a place to post things of interest to friends and family. Nowadays we have Facebook for that kind of thing.

Maybe one day I'll start posting here again.

Background: Mt Sibayak, Sumatra

It's not easy being a Scotsman in England. Some of the locals have difficulty understanding my accent. I'm living in Oxford now, but it was the same in London. Recently, I had trouble ordering a coffee...

Me: Hi. I would like a tall white Americano to take away please.

Coffee guy: (shouts) Tall black Americano to go.

Me: Sorry, white.

Coffee guy: (shouts) Two Americanos to go.

Me: No, no. A white Americano.

Coffee guy: Both white, or just one?

*sigh*

I may have spoken too soon regarding no having internet access. I just plugged in my Sony Ericsson phone via USB, switch it to 'phone mode' and Ubuntu instantly recognised the phone as a modem.

I did have mobile internet working on an older release of Ubuntu, but not without scouring the internet and typing magic incantations in to the command line. I love it when computers 'just work'!

I'm tempted to try it again in Vista to compare, but I really should get back to the packing.

As of tomorrow (Thursday 15 Jan) I'll be living in Oxford. Let me know if you need my new address. My landline number will change, but you can still get me on my mobile.

I wont have Internet access at home for a while, so I apologise if I can't answer emails until then.

Now back to the packing!

I have a new job. I wasn't even looking a new position, I was actually quite settled doing contract work for chessclub.com (working on a wxPython client for their Internet chess service). My new job is working for a startup, based in London, that is creating a big site with Django. I'm not sure if I can tell you much about the site itself yet, but I do think they have found a niche on the internet that isn't fully catered for. continue reading…

I'm going to Miami for a few days, so mail will go unanswered until I get back on Tuesday. :-)

I'm going away for a week on holiday. I will be back on the 24th. All mail, death-threats, wealthy Nigerian widows and Viagra special offers will go unanswered until then.

They say that in every day, you will use at least one sentence that has never been uttered before. I think this may be true of the Internet as well. According to google, the phrase 'telepods of doom' was used on the Internet for the very first time by me! Now if only I could somehow get it in to common usage and be immortalized... Telepods of doom you later!

It appears that all the domain names have been taken - 90% of them by crappy domain name sitting companies. This really ticks me off because I have an idea for an Ajaxy Web 2.0 type site that will make me obscenely wealthy, until the next bubble bursts. Naturally I can't give out details of the site I have in mind, suffice to say it is on the subject of debating. So I would love to get a simple, catchy domain, that says debating, arguing, duscusion or similar. If anyone can suggest such a domain that isn't taken, I would be happy to give you 100 shares when I float on the stock market. And if you are thinking of reserving said domain name and selling it to me, be aware that I have no money - at least until I get venture capital. continue reading…

Normally I detest Internet phenomenas - I still don't know what that 'all your bases' nonsense was about. So I apologise in advanced for having stooped so low as to contribute to the current internet fad. For your viewing pleasure, here are the first two 'loltriops'.

The triops are just over 2 weeks old now, and as cute as a button. Tragically one hatchling died a few days ago, but the 7 that are remaining are doing well. Have a look at the photos.

(not actual size)