Jon Curnow's Digital Home
Tom’s doing paperwork!
Interesting to note that Tom has left his tax return until this point in time. I don’t know him or anything about him – other than what he writes on his site – but I know what he must be feeling right now: where on earth did I put that certificate of tax deduction from my bank. Why do I leave it until so late in the day to do my taxes!!
Happy Birthday Gary!
Really, I should know better. The other day I spoke of the Man of the Moment project for the first time in a long time and the only request I have ever had to enter a male into Musak’s Man of the Moment project is to include Gary Lucy. Sadly, I haven’t got round to that yet (despite the fact he has been Musak’s calendar boy of 2004) but, I noticed yesterday was Gary’s birthday (I think he was 23) and so I dedicate today’s entry to the star of Hollyoaks, Footballers’ Wives and, recently, the ITV drama, She’s Gone.
Related from Listen To Musak’s Archives:
Perhaps I will make Gary Lucy Man of the Moment one day.
Interesting site with somebody’s photographs.
Alright, it might be months old but I never mentioned it!
I Found Some Of Your Life: In my possession is one memory card from a digital camera. This memory card was found in a taxi in New York City. I have no idea who the owner of the camera is.
Fascinating and slightly scary, don’t you think but interesting nonetheless. One of the more interestings possibilities resulting from the rise of digital photographs [via Photo Matt].
Maybe Hewlett-Packard’s “privacy protection system” for cameras would have been useful [via Tom].
Happy thanksgiving to those passing by.
I trust all my American friends and colleagues enjoyed their Thanksgiving. In previous years I have looked at what Thanksgiving really is all about (see here) but this year I thought I would look how you were all celebrating by checking the Flickr tags. All the tags representing Thanksgiving seem to be about food or family – which I think seems like a pretty good notion to me.
Is it possible to have the things I use regularly available on remote servers and never need to care about them myself?
Like many people I signed up for all the free web-based email accounts (RocketMail – now Yahoo, Lycos, Excite, Hotmail etc.) but I never really used them. Over time I let most of the lapse and only really use Yahoo and – now – Gmail but I do not use any of them as my main mail account. I didn’t use them primarily because I didn’t want to pay to be connected to the web to read my mail (my POP accounts were better) and I wanted to maintain addresses at my own domain and – at the time – none of those interfaces allowed you to be seen as another mail address. Yahoo, of course, also provides photo storage, address books and calendars.
My web hosting company allows me to use my space as a virtual hard-drive (if I work out how to configure it) and – as I have noted – Flickr is becoming my personal choice for photographs (even though I could try and manage it myself on my own servers) while I use Bloglines for feed aggregation. So, the question is, can I now run my life using storage space away from my own computer?
Here are some of my considerations:
Do you have any tips for me? Will it work? If it works I only need a reasonable internet connection to have my whole life on tap. What I really need is a proper method for synchronisation – but I’ve ranted about that before.
More daily links …
If you’re a Dermot fan and use ebay, look out for The Big Issue Foundation’s celebrity auction on ebay from 29th November 2004 – 3rd December 2004.
You know how it is: there’s never enough time in the world. This year I haven’t had chance to put any effort into the Man of the Moment project but it was fun for a while and – maybe – I’ll find something to do for Christmas! Anyway, posted today on the Dermot O’Leary comments was a message I feel deserves a little more exposure:
If you’re a Dermot fan and use ebay, look out for The Big Issue Foundation’s celebrity auction on ebay from 29th November 2004 – 3rd December 2004. You can bid for a special ‘What’s Your Big Issue?’ T-shirt signed by Dermot, highlighting something important to him – over fishing! To take part go to http://members.ebay.co.uk/aboutme/bifceleb
All proceeds go to The Big Issue Foundation, the charity that offers support services to Big Issue vendors.
Other celebrities taking part include Ringo Starr, Helen Mirren, Emma Thompson, Tony Blair and Stephen Fry. Apparently, the cast of ‘EastEnders’ counts too.
What has this to do with Christmas?
Christmas is coming and I am a bit of a sucker for it but I have to say that the lights on Regents Street, London, do nothing for me. Perhaps I just haven’t seen them in the right conditions – a cold, damp, grey London afternoon is not conducive to enjoying the exterior lighting. It’s Disney tie-in with The Incredibles that alarms me. Sure, I see that Disney get the promotion and somebody gets some money for the lights but – really – what has it to do with Christmas? Or maybe it’s just that I missed Busted switch them on.
Rent Volumes 1 and 2 and unplug the ‘phone. You won’t regret it.
Continuing her quest for revenge, Uma Thurman is back as the unnamed bride in Kill Bill (Volume II). If you’d read my take on the first one then you would realise that I was destined to see this as quickly as Love Film would send it to me. The bride has several members of Bill’s gang of assassins (Deadly Viper Assassination Squad) to remove and she hits the ground running. This time, however, we learn a little more of the background to the trail of blood and we get to meet Bill himself. There is, perhaps, more emotion to this film (particularly in Uma Thurman’s part) than the first and the violence is, perhaps, less stylised and more realistic. I am truly amazed how much I have enjoyed both the Kill Bill movies and I will have to reassess my opinions of Tarantino’s work.
Rent Volumes 1 and 2 and unplug the ‘phone. You won’t regret it.
Traffic From Hell would make a great name for a TV show. Have they already done that?
PY and I had some errands to run which partly entailed us driving to Heathrow airport. Then we went onto High Wycombe to do some shopping. And yet again we were stuck in traffic for hours. I think it may be time to consider alternative forms of transport. It seems no matter which way we go, south or north, we’re going to get stuck. Now I don’t enjoy being stuck in traffic but PY hates it and lets his frustration show. Maybe I should let him select the music from now on!
If you’re in London you should have a least one drink in The Counting House.
I don’t often go out in The City of London (that’s the financial heart of London). I am a much bigger fan of hanging out in the the West End – which is mainly where I have worked and socialised for all the years I have been here. I’ve just got back from a drinks with some colleagues in The Counting House – which is on Cornhill and a few seconds walk from Bank station. It’s a fabulous place full of character and ornate splendour (the domed roof is wonderful). Then we went for a curry and a decent Indian restaurant which was, unlike the ones on the West end, quiet at the end of an evening. The only downside on the evening: it was just a little harder to get home. I must do this more often.
Traffic hell on the way home from a nice weekend on the south coast.
So I spent the weekend in Brighton: it was a fantastic idea for a last minute get away and I am really quite pleased that I went. The weather was cold and crisp but very sunny and PY and I had a fantastic time roaming the shops, walking the pier, drinking coffee and doing all sort so of good things.
We left earlier this afternoon for the hour car ride home only to end up stuck in four hours of non-moving traffic at the end of the M23 (where it joins the M25). Sitting in a car, going nowhere, starring at the rear brake lights of the vehicle in front (and watching people dart form lane to lane to try to move 100 metres forward) was a very depressing way to end what had bee, until then, a relaxing weekend. It’s such a shame our transport system means I am now more stressed than when I left the office on Friday night (it also means we’ve just eaten a stack of take away junk food but that’s another story).
Maybe I should start looking forward to the week ahead!
It stunned me that I could walk onto a platform on the Northern Line at Charing Cross station and find it deserted.
I posted this picture over a Flickr tonight as it stunned me that I could walk onto a platform on the Northern Line at Charing Cross station and find it deserted. All the best movies had alien invaders clearing the streets while our lonesome hero wandered the empty streets and echoing buildings. It was very strange indeed and a great relief when somebody else made it to the platform and stood waiting the few minutes for the next train. I’ve spent the day in central London training some customers on our software products and so have been on my feet all day, talking. I find it quite hard to be engaging for six hours of so and do find it very disconcerting when I can see the participants interest wane. I imagine it’s a great relief for all that we make it to the end of the day. I was glad to head of for a meal with friends – which is why I was taking the train!