Monday 23 July 2007

Eject, Eject, Eject!!!

There's nobody here. Even our customer base has b******d off for the holidays. I feel like the last crewman aboard a stricken B17 going down over Eastern Europe; everybody's bailed out except me.

Just as well I've taken tomorrow off then.

I reckon a wee visit to the Glenshee hills is in order. I havnae been up that way in an age and, last time I checked, the weather forecast was looking good.

I'm getting fair excited at the thought. (And that, my friends, is a big improvement. Trust me.)

Sunday 22 July 2007

Clear the decks

Finally managed to get up into the loft and sort out some of the excess gear I've got lying about up there. I swear, 90% of the stuff I've got has never been used. It's all "bargains" or "spares" or "nice to haves" or "what if I need?"s. But, at the end of the day, it's just stuff. It doesn't add anything to my life if it's sitting in storage. It's just more clutter. And clutter gets right on my t*ts, these days.

Who actually needs 7 tents, 8 rucksacks, 4 stoves and 11, that's right 11, windproofs? No' me, that's for sure.

So off to Ebay they go, initially in batches of 6. Any more than that and I find that Ebaying becomes a hassle, answering questions from bidders, finding packing materials, wrapping stuff up and carting it to the Post Office. Sometimes it ain't worth the grief.

Last time I had a clear out, I foolishly left the money in my Paypal account and, of course, ended up buying more stuff because it disnae feel like spending real money, does it? This time, the dosh is going straight in the bank.

Hopefully, by the time I've finished, I'll have a leaner, meaner gear collection. Less choice = Quicker Out The Door Time, or that's the plan, at any rate.

Sunday 8 July 2007

TMI

Too Much Information. Too many blogs and forums to keep up with, I feel like I'm spreading myself too thin. It doesn't help that I spend a huge chunk of my working day monitoring my "customers" internet use, making sure that they're sticking to our Acceptable Use Policy and not surfing for stuff that might be considered "dodgy".

I look for patterns of behaviour, sifting through data and tracking URLs. Often it becomes a one-on-one battle as I head off some wee tow-rag's attempts to bypass our filtering software and get at the good stuff, usually Bebo. Sounds fairly innocent at first but I've found that it's being used more and more often to harrass or bully others. Twice in the last month, I've been asked to secure evidence of online-bullying that's been so severe that the Police have been involved. Social Networking, my arse.

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been winding down my "web presence" and doing more real-world stuff and it's been good.

I'll be taking more time out, more R&R, more "me time" etc over the next few months so expect even less frequent postings on this here blog. Unless I actually climb some hills that is, in which case I'll be sure to let you know about it.