Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Wednesday, September 7th, 2011
Bradley, my dear nephew, started school today. I hate the word ‘nephew’, it seems so cold and unloving.
Bradley isn’t just my sister’s little boy; he’s the kid that made everything okay again.
I remember buying him a Build-a-Bear in Hamley’s London toy store just before he was born. I kissed the heart that sits inside that bear’s stuffing before he was stitched up. It’s a silly ritual that they probably make everybody do, but it still meant something to me.
Bradley’s birth drew a line under what had been a really sad time for our family. I cried a lot when I first met him on that chilly Boxing Day morning. And then I gave him that bear.
Today he’s a little lad, full of wonder, mischief and kindness – all in equal measures. I hope he loves school.
This blog post doesn’t really have a point. I saw the photo of Bradley in his school uniform on Facebook, got a bit emotional, and opened WordPress.
Perhaps it’s just one of those moments that’ll forces me to take stock of what I have. And maybe try to appreciate this absurd life a little bit more before it flashes by and I’m taking a photograph of my daughter on her first day at school with my iPhone 9.
Tuesday, September 6th, 2011
“It’s a free country.”
It’s a favoured riposte amongst today’s yoof when some old fogey points out that their twenty-strong huddle may be an inconvenience to the rest of the world.
Let’s hope that these same teenagers remember that phrase when it comes to choosing their career path.
Because when I was at school, the idea of starting your own business was a non-starter. You were not to entertain such thoughts. Multi-millionaires like Richard Branson start their own business. Mere mortals like us don’t.
Our education system must get away from this idea that starting your own business is synonymous with taking over the world and making a frigging fortune.
Yes, some people do make lots of money. But many business owners make a decent if not extraordinary wage doing something they love, by doing it better than most other businesses.
And let’s face it: all of us, on a daily basis, think we can do better than a business we come into contact with.
Maybe you can’t do it better on a grand scale, and maybe you can’t afford 30 second slots during X-Factor, but if you can do something remarkably better than other companies, people will talk and your customer base will grow.
You don’t have to run a business how people run businesses on TV.
You don’t have to wear a suit, drive a like a prat, and be an all-round arsehole to be a ‘boss’.
You don’t have to have a row of PCs under fluorescent lighting in an uninspiring room to call it an office.
And you needn’t have offices in all the major cities, a workforce of thousands and a turnover of billions to be a success.
You can run your business however you bloody-well like.
It is, after all, a free country.
Saturday, June 11th, 2011
Saturday, June 11th, 2011
I’m probably the only person who finds this interesting, but I couldn’t help notice the photograph on this box.
Now it’s not uncommon to have lifestyle photography on product packaging, but this is a man with a baby. In fact, I’d go so far as to assume that this chap in the hat is actually a dad.
And I think this is interesting is because mum is absolutely nowhere to be seen on the packaging.
Over the last thirty-nine weeks, my wife and I have bought seemingly everything with a mum and a baby on the packaging. We’ve arranged it in a room and called it the nursery.
All that’s left to do is have a baby and look after it. (I presume now is the easy bit.)
Maybe dad in the hat on the box resonated with me because I’m about to become him without a hat and a modelling contract.
Or maybe it’s because more than half a ounce of thought whizzed through the designer’s head before they purchased the stock photography.
Either way, it made me think.
Anyway, I told you I’d be the only one who finds this interesting.
Sunday, June 5th, 2011
Yes, I’m still playing around with images in the WordPress app.
It seems the small, medium and large options you’re given within the app’s settings have no correlation with your WordPress media settings.
On the iPhone 4, large images seem to crop to around 640 pixels on the longest edge, medium to 480 pixels, and I’ve no idea about small.
Hopefully they’ll add more control to the image sizing soon in order to make the app a serious on-the-go CMS.
And regarding the photograph, the character in the illustration seems to running away from the toilet after leaving the door open. Quite the opposite of the instruction. Interesting.
Sunday, June 5th, 2011
I’m still testing the iOS WordPress app. The quick photo feature is pretty cool, but the snap below is clearly too big. This one should resize to 500px wide because I’ve set this in the WordPress admin as my medium size, and selected the medium size within the WordPress app settings on my iPhone. Let’s see if this works …
Sunday, June 5th, 2011
I’m testing the quick photo feature in the WordPress iPhone app.
Wednesday, April 27th, 2011
Last night I walked into town to watch the Man Utd game on the big screen at McGinty’s, a very pleasant Irish pub.
It was a jolly decent football match. I’m certainly not a United fan, but, while sipping my Guinness, I couldn’t help but admire the way they dominated the game. To win a Champions League semi-final so convincingly is no mean feat.
Goals from Rooney and Giggs sealed the victory, but these weren’t the two gentlemen that made a big impression on my evening.
No, that particular accolade goes to the two pissed blokes I passed on the way to the pub.
They didn’t look like the nicest blokes in the world, so I assumed they were arguing about where their next alcohol, nicotine or harder drug intake was coming from.
But as I got closer, I realised this wasn’t the case. They were they arguing about seafood outside the library (the geographical irony wasn’t lost on me).
Lush number one was convinced:
“Of course a prawn has a fucking shell on it. That’s why it’s called a shellfish. You prat.”
Lush number two’s argument wasn’t quite so convincing:
“No, because then it would be a mussel. And don’t call me a prat.”
(No, me neither.)
It was captivating stuff. So captivating in fact, that I was caught looking, and subsequently offered an opportunity to settle the debate by Lush Number One:
“Tell this fucking idiot that a prawn is a fucking shellfish,” he insisted, gesturing wildly with his can of Super Tenants.
Bamboozled by the absurdity of the situation, I declined to offer an answer. I smiled and walked faster. But I did tell the boys all about the encounter when I got to the pub.
And I told Anders and JK the story when I got to work this morning.
Whilst the majority of businesses pursue the slick, professional approach of Man Utd, only the very brave few opt for the absurdity of those fishy drunks.
But what’s more interesting and memorable?
Monday, February 14th, 2011
If, like me, you 1. enjoy watching football, and 2. have the attention span of a hungry goldfish, you may have seen Trade Forex Like A Pro on a television set near you recently.
That’s because it’s the strapline of Fulham FC’s sponsor, FxPro.
I don’t really know what Forex is, but regardless, this is a quite brilliant strapline. And for three reasons:
1. Because everybody who knows what Forex is gets to feel smug. (Customers even more so: “I use that! I’m on Match Of The Fucking Day!”)
2. Because people who don’t know what Forex is ponder what it might be and may even look it up. The really weird ones may even blog about it.
3. Because you can guarantee that somebody in that company wanted to avoid using the word Forex because they were scared people wouldn’t know what it meant. And then somebody with more sense told them to piss off.
If you’re trying to sell to everyone, you’re wasting your time. My nan doesn’t give a shit about your trainers, my sister doesn’t give two hoots about your blog, I’d rather sniff my cat’s farts than go skiing.
Alienating the mainstream can make your true customers feel special. That’s a good thing. And the next time somebody tries to convince you otherwise, tell them to go and Trade Forex Like A Pro. (Which is my new favourite euphemism.)
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
James and I did a radio interview today. It was fun.
They asked me about how everything was going. I said I was having fun; we were creating stuff that was hopefully achieving good things for our clients.
I felt a bit guilty for having all this fun. I shouldn’t, of course, because creating a culture of head-down, shut-up, I’m-in-charge fear does nobody any favours. it kills good ideas before they can grow into great ones.
People aren’t delighted by seriousness. Have more fun.