1812.02 CHRISTMAS PRELUDE

Christmas has come around so quickly this year, my head is still spinning from the last on. Isn't it time Christmas was like the Olympics? Then we'd have a few extra years to catch up.

1702.03 GROUNDHOG DAY

This post isn't about the 1993 movie nor is it about the American tradition involving a fat ferret.

I don't blog about work. I have to be careful about what I say about work online. It's not like I'm a spy or anything (although if I was I'm guessing I'd say that anyway) they're just very strict. For the most part I enjoy my job, no two days are the same and I like that aspect.

1612.14 VERSATILE AWARD AND BIG PRAISE

I love these awards where you are nominated by fellow bloggers. Earlier this year I was nominated for the Liebster Award which was a huge honour. To be recognised by other bloggers for doing something you enjoy is a wonderful thing.

1609.11 THE PHONE BOOK

Does anyone remember life before mobile phones, Google and social media? A time when if you needed to contact someone you picked up the corded phone and dialed, but not for too long because it was expensive.

If you need to look someone up back then you used the phone book. It was the Facebook of the day. If you needed to find a business or particular service you used the Yellow Pages™ instead of Google.

The reason I mention it was this...

20th century Facebook 

What the hell happened? Firstly I didn't know they still printed these. Secondly have you noticed how small it is? It's a pamphlet. These books used to be MASSIVE! This was posted through my letter box, there's no way the old ones would go through the door.

Is there still a Yellow Pages™? Is it similar sized (I know they have an app these days)?I know the takeaway section has declared independence and each ad comes through the door separately on an almost hourly basis.

Younger people are quite shocked when they realise how the 20th century person communicated and had to look up facts in books (sometimes meaning a trip to the library). It's always good to stop and look at how things have changed. 

1607.07 BASIC CHILD SAFETY ONLINE

I was prompted to write this post after seeing a friend's child cropping up all over social media and in my opinion started putting themselves in potential danger.

I've always been strict about my children's use of the internet. This lead to quite a bit of friction with my eldest back in the difficult period (which we won't go into now). My rules, hopefully, have kept my kids as safe as can be whilst letting them access to the internet. I supervise as much as I can, online devices must remain downstairs at all times and a parent must have access to all online accounts. Now I know this isn't foolproof but it's also about teaching responsible use of online services. It a frightening world out there and young people are exposed to it too soon these days.

It concerns me when I see other parents not giving a damn about what their kids do online. They hand over a smartphone and don't give a second thought to what they're doing or who they may be chatting to (or worse?).

There's loads of advice online for kids and parents and I think it's a good idea to sit down with a child and discuss it. I have with both my kids. For more info check out CEOP.

In my work I've visited schools and spoken to children about internet safely and hopefully my words have made an impression to some of those kids. At the end of the day it's not up to me, every parent needs to take responsibility for their child's activity online. 

1606.28 REMEMBER MSN

From time to time I get asked to fix / work out / play with technology for my friends and family. This week I was asked to give the 'kiss of life' to an aging laptop that belongs to a friend's mother. I got the old machine to boot up and noticed it still had old MSN Messenger on it. That got me reminiscing...

I've had computers since I was 13 years old but didn't connect to the internet until the early 2000s. Some of the first things I did when I got online was; start a blog, learn how to build a simple webpage, use MSN.

The wondrous world of text chatting to your mates (SMS texting was about but at 10p a message was restricted) and if you were lucky viewing them on a dark fuzzy image  if they had a webcam. This was the world of 56K dial up where you couldn't use your landline at the same time as being online. Also our PC was in the dining room so being online, whilst being digitally social was anti-social because you were away from the rest of the family.

I remember finishing a late shift and arriving home at 1am only to jump on the PC and chat away with everyone I'd just seen at work. These sessions could go on for hours with multiple conversations and group chatting.

Far cry from now with WhatsApp and the like in your hand on your mobile practically wherever you go. Always on internet and never being online. Is this a good or a bad thing though?

1602.16 PEED IN THE POOL

I was disappointed to here about Stephen Fry's departure from Twitter. He was one of the early adopters and one of the few celebrities on in the beginning, I myself have been on twitter for 9 years now (find me at @CaptainKirt), back in the beginning there were less than a million users and the atmosphere was very different. Trolling was practically unheard of back then. I think Stephen did describe it well though...

Oh goodness, what fun twitter was in the early days, a secret bathing-pool in a magical glade in an enchanted forest. It was glorious ‘to turn as swimmers into cleanness leaping.’ We frolicked and water-bombed and sometimes, in the moonlight, skinny-dipped. We chattered and laughed and put the world to rights and shared thoughts sacred, silly and profane. But now the pool is stagnant. It is frothy with scum, clogged with weeds and littered with broken glass, sharp rocks and slimy rubbish. If you don’t watch yourself, with every move you’ll end up being gashed, broken, bruised or contused. Even if you negotiate the sharp rocks you’ll soon feel that too many people have peed in the pool for you to want to swim there any more. The fun is over.

I still persevere, it isn't as much fun but I do enjoy the interaction. I too have taken breaks from time to time, I think everyone does. It's a shame about Stephen though, he was the only celebrity that actually followed me back!

1601.20 END OF THE BIRTH OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Many years ago when few were on the internet and it ran at a snails pace (remember 56K modems?) there came about a website that offered to put us in touch with old friends from our school days or even those friends we just lost touch with. There was of course a cost, they charged a subscription to communicate with our lost friends (it was free to put your details on).

Then came Facebook. Same sort of thing but free. Facebook also let you share information with your current friends too. Did I mention it was free? Friends Reunited eventually stopped charging but by then I think it was too late.

Today I got an email stating they were closing down, I'd all but forgotten about them let alone that I still had an account with them. I've probably still got an account with MySpace too (I have, I just checked). I don't think I'm about to lose any sleep about the passing but it is worthwhile remembering one of the early pioneering web services and social network before the term had even been coined.

1105.27 SKYPEEEEE!

Whilst Morticia has been away we have communicated with a nightly Skype call. Before this time we used mobile video calling but since our last upgrade video calling is no longer an option (yes I have Facetime on my iPhone but Morticia has a HTC that doesn't). I've had a Skype account for ages but no one to speak to. That's all changed now as it's all set up on all the computers and phones in the household (4 of each). I believe that Skype calls will become more commonplace here, especially between Morticia and her mother.

1002.09 FUTURE TV

Whilst watching iPlayer this morning I was reminded of a television programme I saw many years ago where Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) spoke about the future of tv and (as I recall) how there would become a day when the tv schedules would become a thing of the past as television would be posted on the internet. Although we're not quite there yet, I believe the catch up players of today, especially BBC's iPlayer, are the first steps towards the realisation of this vision.

0911.19 CHANGE OF PLAN

This week should have been work Monday and Tuesday then off till Sunday (annual leave). Change of plan, because of a family emergency (which would be inappropriate of me to go into detail about here) I've ended up being off Monday till Thursday, back at work tomorrow (Friday), then off Saturday and back again on Sunday. What a messy week!

Went Christmas shopping on Wednesday and Thursday, hating the season already. I'm not going to blather on about how fucked up the whole thing is again, I guess I do that most years. It's just a demon I have to live with.

Four of the fence panels that broke during the last storm are now shattered and spread across the garden. Two of them are the responsibility of next door. I'm not confident that they will do anything about it, since their English is awful I guess I'm going to struggle with this one.

Spend some of my time off setting up home wifi so I can connect the wii to the internet. I now have BBC iPlayer on the main TV (the whole purpose for doing this) and my phone can enjoy a fast internet link when I've at home.

Been reading some 5 year old blogs of mine. It's amazing how some things have changed and others have stayed the same.

0904.26 TESCOS COMETH

My life just doesn't get any duller than it is at the moment. All bed and work with very little else. Time and money seem to be holding me back from living.

I was actually excited at the prospect of doing my supermarket shop online. The monthly shop had become more and more difficult. We just couldn't take the kids along anymore, it became too difficult lugging them along so it ended up easier not doing the full shop and we just ended up just popping to the shops as we needed. The costs were astronomical, fuel and the extra items we ended up buying all mounted up.

I was pleasantly surprised at the service (I guess I was worried about the whole process about someone else doing my shopping). It meant that there is food in the cupboards and we've saved quite a substantial amount of money.