Anyone else finding it bizarre that the spammers have now gone meta and are telling me that spam sucks and to delete it? Akismet is doing a great job of capturing it all, but I just find it funny.

Reading this long comment thread on Slashdot about a guy who is being sued by a company for resigning bought home the huge difference in employment law in different countries. the stories of just walking out, of keeping journals of everything that goes wrong to use in ammunition, to tales of what people can do if left around the company after handing in notice.

The next few hours are going to be interesting. I apparently sent 43 boxes to the US and they are being delivered and unpacked as we speak. I’m trying to stay out of the way.

I’m sitting here in Chicago after travelling here at the last minute, only to have arrived and find that the meeting I’m here for has been cancelled. Whist waiting to see of something else is being organised I’ve managed to find a desk at our local office. Of course, without the work PC little work can be done. At least there is webmail that sort of works. It’s a pity I made a conscious decision not to bring my camera this morning, otherwise I could have been out and about snapping away.

I’ve finally got me, time and my music all together in the same place to answer Ewan’s tagging of me for the latest meme to go round. What is the soundtrack of your life, if your soundtrack was on random. So, following the instructions, open the library, press random play, see what you get.

Opening Credits: Greenday Massacre, by Dean Gray.
First Day At School: 40 by U2
Falling In Love: Karma Killer by Robbie Williams
Breaking Up: Good as Gold by the Beautiful South
Prom: The Real Slim Shady by Enimem
Mental Breakdown: St Jimmy the Prankster, Dean Gray
Flashbacks: Run, Snow Patrol.
Getting Back Together: Pop Song 2006, Razorlight
Wedding Scene: Because of your Brainstew Kelly Clarkson vs Greenday
Final Battle: Fur Elise, Beethoven
Death Scene: Eleanor Ciccone, ccc.
Funeral Song: Somebody Told Me, The Killers
End Credits: I want to Hold your hand, The Beatles
Finale: Fix You, Coldplay

I’m not sure what that says or how representative it is. There’s fewer mash-ups on the list than I would expect just by looking at the music list; most of the stuff I have is still in CD format which is something I need to rectify once they have made their way from Philadelphia (London to Phily via ship, now waiting for them to be on a truck and delivered here). I’m not going to tag this time..sometimes you just don’t.

Noel Hidalgo is trying something different with Luck of Seven.

on the luck of seven is an open-source, around the world project by noel hidalgo (aka noneck). for seven months, he will visit the seven continents, sail the seven seas, and visit the seven ancient wonders of the world. Using a wiki, noneck will harness the collective knowledge of the globe, and report weekly on seven topics of freedom. Before he leaves, he is fundraising US$11.11 from 700 global residents.

An interesting project; track the success though the blog and wiki, join the Flickr Group and go and donate.

My dad’s finally got the router working at home and now I can log into the Slingbox and Tivo to watch and record Uk programmes. I love technology at times 😉

It looks like I’m currently the top search result on Google for ‘how do you know if you have a fractured neck’. I hope the person who came to my site after using that term ended up going to the doctor and getting an X-ray!

I’ve gone and joined Twitter; it’s called peer pressure, all my friends are doing it so why shan’t I. And it’s strangely fascinating in an old school reality show way. That’s the old school like Castaway or the Edwardian house, not Survivor or Big Brother. Where it was more a challenge documentary rather than a weird way to fame.

So Twitter gives you a way to stalk your friends, to find out what they are doing in a different way to blogging; with only 145 characters per message it gives a more stream of thought insight into other peoples lives. Join and share the fascination.

After just over 2 years on this blog, I’ve reached post 1000, (a number with significance only if you count in base 10.) I’ve moved from the tentative steps of working out why I was blogging to a changed mindset where things I read and hear about are put through a mental filter of ‘can I write about this’. Sometimes it’s to explore the idea further, othertimes just to keep a record of it. The last two weeks have been interesting, no blog to write on but lots of things piling up to be written about. But it’s also given me a chance to assess what i write about, whether it’s reaction in the echo chamber or new stuff.

I’ve not made any money THROUGH the blog – there’s no ads. The driver was not money but expression. But I’ve done well BECAUSE of the blog. In fact, blogging has completely changed my life. By reading and then writing I’ve had glimpses into the lives of many others, entered a continuous learning environment where there is new information every day. Went to some conferences. Met a lot of new people and made new friends. And all of this triggered self-reflection about what I was doing and whether I was getting what I wanted from it.

So I quit my job, after spending 14 years with the same company. And tried a couple of things but have now ended up in New York, working in a new job and a new industry which (on paper at least) have little in common with my previous role but a lot to do with the knowledge I have built up through blogging. New York is a place I tried to get my previous employee to send me for a while (I was in a global company, in a global role and almost everyone I worked with on projects was in the US). It didn’t happen then but it has now – and now to make the most of it.

So I carry on through the 1000 posts and few years and see where I am then. One thing that will change about this blog is that some of the marketing posts will appear over on a new blog, Behind the Buzz, which I’m going to be writing for b5media. It’s not styled up yet, still work to be done on that, but I am posting away. So I’m finally getting some money for blogging ;-). I’ll be pointing over there for some of the stuff, whilst this one will continue with the rest. So, back to the blogging.

I’m a fan of continued education.   I’ve carried on learning formally though the OU for many years.  But the OU courses available in the US are few so I’ve been looking around for something else.   Many of the available courses in New York that would feasibly fit into my schedule are the more practical or job related ones, not necessarily something that I was interested in doing – I just like learning.  So I was thrilled to stumble upon MIT’s Open Courseware, which is a publication of nearly all of their undergraduate course work, from reading lists, lecture notes, essay requirements and answers.  A wonderful way to work your way through areas that interest you.  In my case, I think I’m going to update my Biology and Anthropology (my original degree) and take a look at Psychology, Comparative Media studies, History, Linguistics and Technology.  Of course, that’s the plan – I just need to organise my life to have the time to do it.