It’s two weeks since I last blogged, which is probably about the longest hiatus that I’ve had since I first started writing online. There’s been no particular reason for not blogging, but rather a combination of things that have kept me away from the Typepad and in the "real" world.
First of all, things have been incredibly busy at work, where we’ve been wrapping up another publication for BT – this time aimed at small business customers. This one is an experiment in semi-personalised publishing, producing a short hybrid DM/editorial product that varies according to the products that the reader owns and what type of business they are. It’s the kind of thing that is easy to do on the web, but very difficult to do in print, and it’s been an enormous challenge just to get it done.
Secondly, weekends have been busy with actual, real, social events. Last weekend, for example, saw us head out on Friday to a play that a friend was putting on about Lilya Litviak, a World War II Russian woman fighter ace. I ended up using all the myriad tools available to men to stop themselves blubbing at the sad parts at the end – I’m a sucker for a woman fighter ace in peril – so I enjoyed it immensely. Then there was a party to celebrate the 40th birthday of the marvellous James Wallis (one of only three people to write a novel about Sonic the Hedgehog). Then Sunday saw a lovely lunch with Tamzin and Jamie, and much hooting over various musicals.
But also there’s been the fact that I’ve just not found anything all that interesting, especially in the world of technology. Everything is either deals between companies for ridiculous money (Google/YouTube, Carphone Warehouse/AOL UK) or more web-based applications that offer a fraction of the functionality of a desktop program at the cost of your life being flooded with yet more advertisements. Dull dull dull. Or maybe I’ve been close to technology for so long that I’m burned out?
However, there’s one exception: despite having written about how I don’t get it at all, I’ve been spending an increasing amount of time in Second Life, and it’s a blast – the potential is very interesting, and no doubt I’ll be writing more about it in the future.
Blogging
