Are you going to be part of Irish Blog week

The first week of March is, well busy.

It all starts on March When the The Irish Blog Awards ceremony take place. Seats are somewhat limited so remember to register for the Irish Blog Awards It costs only ten Euros a head and all cash taken at the door goes to three deserving charities - Brainwave, St. Francis Hospice and the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Ireland. Preceding this are quite a few meetings and groupings. Make them if you can.

March 2nd. Very early on March 2nd we have WebCamp - Social Network Portability this time in Cork. I'm trying to figure out logistics and if a bus should be hired, but I suspect that its all aboard the first train from Dublin to Cork for an awful lot of tired bloggers and blog awards party people.

also on March 2nd (this time at a mercifully later hour) Alexia is organising a bloggers dinner in Cork. Should be fun, even if Dear Waters isn't there.

Then on March 3rd and 4th the international BlogTalk 2008 Conference takes the floor again in Cork

Then after a small breather, on March 8th Creative Camp starts in Kilkenny.

Its going to be busy...

See you there?
Will Knott

tags : Irish Blog Week, March 2008, Irish Blog Awards, Dublin, WebCamp, Cork, Social Network Portability, bloggers dinner, BlogTalk 2008, Creative Camp, Kilkenny

The most scaryist time of the year

Well 2007 is on the way out. And as usual in Ireland, all things come to a halt for a while. Christmas is a scary time of the year because, usually, everything gets changed this week. This is probably the reason why resolutions are saved for this time of the year in this part of the world. You've just survived one week of changes intact. Why not make more...

For some people, this is a time of the year when they are handed responsibilities that they normally don't look after. (Some even learned new skills this way). These people (of which I'm one) have their lives thrown a little off kilter for a while. And they have to consider what's important and what needs to change.

For others everything comes to a stop. Work stops. The life of the office stops (and some people try to hide the evidence of what happened at the office party... ah flickr and facebook) and the news cycle slows. For them this comes as a chance to think. And they have to consider what's important and what needs to change.

So the adverts change from "buy this" to "stop smoking" or "start a new hobby with this magazine" and of course "sale now on..." since the Christmas stock costs too much to store.

And so the resolutions begin. The "I'll never rush in to a sale again" is heartfelt but unheeded within a week. So I'll ignore that one.

Yup... resolutions.

What do I want to do or change? Trust me I've had a while to think about these things so...

1) Be master of my own domain...
I don't mean tidy the house (but now that you mention it, the bathroom mirror does need to b put in the bathroom. I mean it's time that WillKnott.net and WillKnott.ie actually got used as something more than a redirect. Part of this is to do with changes that seem to be afoot. The "cork" in "cork-host" may need to change.
All advice gratefully accepted.

2) On your bike...
Personally, I need to get out more. I've used every excuse not to cycle this year. 2008 will see a saddle put under strain. Regularly. That and go back to Capoeira again. Things sort of stopped over December.

3) Learn (or relearn) a language...
I've always been more a OnLamppp man than an AJAX man. So I'm going to refresh and perfect my Perl, python and PHP. I do intend to get Ruby (and maybe rails) in my head. Sort of useful with a domain eh? Somehow I just know that Java will need something more formal than a commitment by me. Any pointer to classes or tutorials would be appreciated.

What, you assumed French? (Actually Portuguese would be useful for Capoeira but that's another story.)

4) Take time to smell the roses...
Or actually plant them. Simply put, my garden is a mess. Actually that not true. I was careful. My garden is black. Black weed-proof plastic. I need to do some things. Lay a patio. Do "something" with a terrace. I genuinely don't know what should happen out there. I do know I need the hardscaping finished. Help?

5) Give voice...
This is neither a resolution nor a commitment. But my attendance at PodCamp Ireland and the forthcoming Creative Camp gave me an idea... which I'll post later.

I think that is enough. You can't make yourself too many resolutions simply because putting too much pressure on yourself almost guarantees that you won't do any.

Any resolutions or advice?

take care,
Will Knott


tags : 2007, 2008, change, resolution, domain, WillKnott.net, WillKnott.ie, cycle, capoeira, onlamp, garden, PodCamp, PodCamp Ireland, Creative Camp, podcasting