I found the following image as I was browsing a few blogs and could immediately identify with it and chuckled a fair bit so I’m sharing it for all you web designers and developers out there

It’s amazing how nifty design can be made to look like the most stupid thing in the world. After all, who can post on a forum if its closed? Why then does it say I should post if I can’t? Surely the most elementary of programmers could manage an if statement to deal with such issues *sigh*.

See what I mean here

I’m down south in St. Albans at the moment staying with my family for the next couple of weeks because a number of things I’m due to attend down here are happening all at once. When I pack I’m normally very careful to double check I’ve got everything, but this time because the taxi arrived literally 2 minutes after hanging up the phone to the cab control centre I didn’t have the time to give my bags the once over. As a result I forgot my Bluetooth dongle (meaning I can’t use my wireless mouse with my laptop for 2 weeks), my shaver (meaning I will have to use a blade razor for 2 weeks which I hate) and my jacket (which means I will have to borrow one from the house - luckily very doable).

I guess the moral of the story is to always check you have packed everything and if there is a taxi involved, do so before calling the cab company!

Huge congratulations go to Hannah O’Shea for achieving the 3 A grades required to gain entry to the English department at York University. Further to these superb grades Hannah also managed to achieve a 100% mark on her English A2 papers and a distinction in a history extension paper. I’m sure others will join me in wishing her the very best of luck at university. With the ability to achieve grades like that she is sure to go a long way. Drinks on me when I’m next home

It would appear that my couple of games of bowling in Jersey stood me in good stead for getting a fairly nice score when I went bowling with Claire and Chris yesterday evening. Generally though it was good fun and great to meet up again with people I haven’t seen for a couple of weeks. I was also sad to learn that my galivanting off down south will result in me missing various festivities for Claire’s birthday, but I guess it can’t be helped. Freshers week Bondi will be the event to throw us all back together though I’m sure.

After bowling Chris had to head off home but as Weatherspoons is just across the road from the bowling alley, Claire and I decided to get food and a few drinks. We set the world to rights in discussion and chatted about a whole load of different things relevant to each of us which was really cool. I’ve come to realise the value more and more of chatting with friends on a one to one basis. Later on a few of Claires friends from Rock Soc came along and so we chatted with them for a while, and I got onto some crazy physics and black hole discussion with Ian which was rather ace - we swapped phone numbers as we could have gone on all night debating about it all so we figured we would probably have to arrange another drinking session in which to do this, lol.

Claire and I went home at about 11 as she had work early and I’m still sleeping more after my rest in Jersey and the others moved on to another bar. All in all it was a good night and made me feel happy to be back in Leeds, even if it is only for a short while.

Well we all do it, punch our names into Google and see if we come up. Those of us with sites want to see what key words we think potential readers might type in and see if our sites come up in addition to the ego induced self-searching. It was therefore a pleasant surprise to see that I have not only come top in Google on a search for my full name, with a number of other sites I run coming in the subsiquent positions (I have known this for quite a while), but that on a search for just my first name I now rank 6th on world sites and 5th on UK only sites. True I’m not top, but as most Google users only see/use the top 10 entries its good enough for me to be in said top 10. Screen dump shown below in case I slip down the rankings in a few weeks or so

While away in Jersey I read one morning in an interview with the Guardian newspaper that the identity of the author of one of my favorite blogs, Girl with a one track mind, had been uncovered by a tabloid journalist. “The Girl” as the blogs author is known online, writes both the blog and a recently published book under the pen name of Abby Lee and for many of us this was quite enough information, in fact the annonymity of the whole thing was what gave it that even greater intrigue.

Clearly however this isn’t enough for some people and I was upset to see the life of a great blogger turned upside down by a tabloid in search of a quick buck by revealing The Girl’s true identity. I think this behaviour is shameful and I really feel for Abby in this. By the early blog postings it is very clear that the blog was never supposed to be a money making scheme, far from it, merely an outlet for her own thoughts and feelings on a subject not often talked about and something that is rarely found shared in such an open way.

To the un-named journalist who did this deed I hope you realise how many issues you have caused for Abby and how many of Abby’s readers you have pissed off, and even if you don’t I’m sure you’ll sleep easier knowing that you have a few more enemies in the world now won’t you.

I hope Abby keeps writing as even with the unmasked identity I feel sure her postings will continue to be of interest to readers from around the world. To all who have read her blog and enjoyed it, please buy Abby’s book as I feel sure that a confidence boost at this stage would really help yet another individual trapped and hounded by the modern day excuse we have for news.

Its been a huge break from blogging for me, but I’m back from the isle of Jersey and in front of the computer again. Not that I’ve been looking forward to this day by any means, in fact my stay in Jersey was very pleasant and I would have liked to stay for longer. There is lots to do and explore and for me this was made many times better because I got to meet lots of Michelle’s friends into the bargain and stay with her family.

Before I launch into “the best bits of the trip” I’ll share my photos. I’ve added a whole gallery of pictures from Jersey, mainly landscapes and similar, but there are a fair few from the Battle of Flowers parade and select few shots of people, I’ve already had one comment about me in the hat and I feel sure I will get many more, lol

Well then, the best bits were many, in fact I enjoyed everything, but while many of the days involved lots of chatting with Michelle’s friends, wandering around areas of town and drinking coffee there were a couple of really cool places I went to and things I did that are worth a little mention.

First off though lets not move away from the subject of coffee. While I’ve had better coffee in various places, no place to drink it can better Curiosity in St. Helier, Jersey. Good music on the hi-fi, service with a smile, comfortable chairs and sofas for all and a nice selection of artistic photographs from around Jersey on the walls make it a really nice place to go. While I don’t think anything would better Barissimo’s in St. Albans Hertfordshire, I think Curiosity is the closest any coffee shop has come. They had coulouring in for the young (at heart) too.

One of the most enjoyable things I did in St. Helier apart from drinking coffee had to be exploring the Marina(s). I had a good modge around the various boats and took a few photos. Michelle’s Dad kindly gave me the entrance code too so I got to get a really good look at some of the boats I dream of owning as well as prompting some funny looks from various people, but never mind. I walked to the end of the peer and saw the ferry landing, as well as a rather complex marked entrance channel for the various marinas making East coast river entrances look like a Sunday school picnic. Still, its a lovely place to have a boat if only for the number of pubs serving real ale a mere stones throw away from a lot of the small moorings all around the island.

From boats then to tides and their sizes. Jersey must have one of the largest tides in the world, or at least it certainly seemed that way what with the huge amounts of beach that get revealed and the “out to sea” walks you can do. I walked out to Elizabeth Castle at low tide with Fran (one of Michelles friends) and then later on in the week walked a good couple of miles out to Seymour tower with various members of Michelle’s family. It was nice to get to talk to so many different people in one walk. I’ve got some great pictures in the gallery of Seymour tower and the walk leading up to it. It really is amazing when you take into account that all ground shown in the photos is covered by the sea at high tide. You can also stay in the tower by renting it out overnight, and the current people staying for the night let me have a look around inside which apparently I was quite lucky to be able to do as Michelle’s parents had never been in the tower, despite visiting it several times. The walk was rounded off with a quality local ale at the pub back by the road.

In a break from walks and similar things we went out drinking a couple of nights, most notable was where we ended up at a club we thought was going to be playing cheesy music, but in fact was some rubbish hyped up radio 1 DJ. Still some of Michelle’s friends or (shock horror) even me may have ended up on Jersey Events, so check that one out if you have time.

Nights out seemed to inevitably result in swimming in the sea in the small hours which was fun, although due to fear of hyperthermia I didn’t venture in myself (chicken according to Michelle and well, she is probably right). One night though we went down to Beauport beach and went swimming in moonlight and saw the phospheressence (sp?) in the sea which was really rather lovely, I even got some fairly reasonable moonlight shots with my camera. If I have to pick a favorite late night in Jersey then that would probably have to be it, it was a thing of films and books really, at least it was to me which made it all the more fun to do.

One of the really cool things Jersey has is the Battle of Flowers. While the day parade is (by all accounts) a little stuffy and up-tight, the moonlight parade is a real carneval type atmosphere with lights, fireworks, laughter and the same flower-decorated floats that get shown in the day but with the added bonus that they are all lit up. It was a really fun night and I got lots of photos too. Its amazing to think that each float is decorated by hand with either real or paper flowers and that it all looks so perfect. My favorites were the Narnia floats and one with the barrels of whisky, really well crafted efforts the both of them.

My last day in Jersey was one spent packing a few bits up (see restrictions on aircraft after the whole terrorism plot) and enjoying the last day by heading to Plemont to swim in the sea and see the caves there. Apart from my shots of the cave waterfall my attempts at cave photography failed with the flash being insufficient to illuminate the space, but I had better luck body-boarding in the sea and managed to “catch” my first wave in Jersey, sending me a fair distance until I was beached. The “yay” factor was clearly evident. It was great fun and a good way to end the holiday.

To all considering a trip to Jersey, you’ll have a great time, and to the few friends of mine who decided not to come along with me you missed out; Jersey does exist (Chris) and is a lovely place to escape to. I will most certainly be returning at some point in the future. Thanks to Michelle and family for putting up with me for the week

In a short while I’m off to Doncaster airport to get a flight to Jersey and stay with Michelle for the week. Its something I’ve been looking forward to for some time, and with lots planned for the week in the way of activities and relaxation and the BBC promising fine weather, it should be a great trip. I’m going to meet Michelle’s family and of course her friends from Jersey, which will be really cool. Apparently BBQs on the beach will be a core component of my visit and as I haven’t had a BBQ in a while I must say I can’t wait! As usual pictures and blog posts will follow, although I am having a virtually computer free week so no blogs or e-mails will be written until I get back.

I came accross a link to the System Administrator Appreciation Day website today and realised that I had just missed it by a few days, more to the point others have missed it by a few days and I didn’t get any appreciation as a result, still there is always next year and I’m not a big time sys admin at the best of times anyway.

Still, it is food for thought; these websites we spend hours on every day, or at least every week for those who use the net less, are maintained and run be people working tirelessly and without thanks to make sure you get the same high quality experience you expect 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Yes, if there is an error in the middle of the night they really do get woken up and the job never really comes to an end.

We really should appreciate our systems administrators, not just on one day a year, but all the time. After all, high on caffine they may be, but they keep us grounded by making sure our systems work in the best way possible so we have one less thing to worry about. A virtual beer and a pat on the back to all the sys admins I know.