SQL: Structured Query Language.

Many flavours: MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle…

I’ve been using it a lot recently.

Not only do I use it at work, but I’ve been coding queries for the Blue Fish Network in my ’spare time’.

Oh boy…

I’m no real expert in it yet, but I get by.

There must be more to life than coding?

Seriously, I’m getting pretty fed up with London.

It’s a great city, but not when you’re a commuter.

(Show me any commuter who enjoys travelling on the capital’s under-invested public transport system…)

This growing unrest is fuelled by the growing number of friends who have moved away from London in the last few years. This includes people both on and off the property ladder, so it’s not exclusively about not being able to afford to buy a house here.

It’s about escaping the ridiculous speed that everyone and everything seems to need to travel in and around London.

It’s about wanting to breathe fresh air and live in real countryside.

Of course, it also makes financial sense - buying a much larger property and having money to spare is a rarity in London but elsewhere it’s still almost a normality.

It’s also about being fed up of doing a 9-5 job for someone else (even in a charity environment).

Please, does anyone want to rescue me? Show me ways that I can increase my non-employed income, break free, and leave grey-box-world for the sound of birds and the babbling streams of… well, anywhere else really.

I’ve lived in London for 14 yeaars now, and I’m pretty fed up with it now.

Who’s gonna save me?

Yes, our facilities department strikes again.

A door was moved in our office over the weekend, and despite the assurance that everything would be covered, when I came in this morning, my desk, computer, files, and telephone were covered in a lyer of plaster dust.

Mr K.H’s reponse was: “Well, you always get a bit of dust”.

Huh?

I would’ve thought professional builders (were they?) would know how to adequately cover items so that they didn’t get caked in the dust. I’m not talking a small amount - I’m talking a thick layer covering the whole area on the other side of the office from the door.

Mr K.H’s response to my obvious show of displeasure?

“Oh well.”

In other words - tough sh*t.

Yeah, thanks K, you don’t have to work in this office.

Let me show you this:

Plaster dust (calcium sulfate) is slightly irritating to the eyes and respiratory system.  In situations where there is heavy inhalation of the dust, more severe respiratory problems can result.

I would’ve thought that would contravene Health and Safety at work regulations - the ones your minion Mr D.F seems to keen to uphold.

I don’t like making a fuss for the sake of it, but I am sitting in the aftermath of dodgy building work, my stuff covered in dust (have you ever tried to get plaster dust out of a soft mouse mat or keyboard rest? Don’t bother), and already I can feel my nose reacting to it.

Ah well, only another 7 hours to go.

Thanks Facilities. Business as usual eh?

For over a year now I thought I had been an aspiring professional blogger: I would dearly love to be able to write full-time and receive enough money to be able to live and support my family.

I had the mindset that a professional blogger was simply anyone who could be a totally independent online content producer. In most cases, this meant that they had some way of either directly or indirectly making money from their online presence.

Now I’m not so sure.

Whilst the word ‘professional’ is most frequently used to describe someone qualified and receiving remuneration for an occupation, it can also be used to describe anyone who conducts themselves in a ‘competent and skillful way’.

The more I hang around “Pro Blogging” circles the more I am wondering just how professional they really are?

Honestly, I’d rather spend time with one amateur ‘newbie’ blogger than one-hundred of the ‘elite’.

There are recent examples of posts that paint a picture of negativity, content theft and fraud.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

The tip of an iceberg that points to an imploding blogosphere?

No…

The tip of an iceberg of the so-called professionals that seem to thrive and survive on hyping controversy, mob rule, and public ridicule.

I know in many other niches of the blog world this just isn’t so. Maybe it’s the mentality of meta-bloggers (people who blog about blogging) and the people who hang around them, and another circle of geeks, nerds and power-hungry businesspeople, who frequently intermingle…

I don’t know.

It’s not fun to be around though.

One of the posts I linked to had two members of a well-known network arguing with each other in quite a disrespectful manner. This is when debate becomes personal abuse. Regardless of how they get on privately, it’s an interesting public reflection.

My point is this: I believe there are a good many professional bloggers way down beneath the radar. They’re ordinary people that treat one another with respect, don’t gang up on one another, don’t link incestuously…

They’re probably holding down a myriad of commitments: employment, family, chores… Yet as far as I’m concerned they’re blogging professionally.

For one thing, they have a passion and write about it, but don’t have time to involve themselves in arguments about irrelevancies.

For another, they’re just decent people who have their egos in check.

Being a professional blogger is not about how much you earn, or whether you’re exclusively your own boss. It’s about how you treat people and how you react to, and interact with, what’s going on around you.

Sometimes I think we all need to just get over ourselves a bit (a lot), focus on what is really important in this life, and move forward positively and professionally.

Hi all,

If anyone is still reading this blog, I’d like to let you know what’s happening.

Life has been very busy in general, and as far as my online presence and activities go, I’ve been spending a lot of time working and nurturing the Blue Fish Network, and some of my other niche sites.

I’m feeling the need to start writing more personally again, though I’m still not sure exactly how or where or under what title.

I liked “Pastoral Activist” but I think that chapter has closed.

I like “Digital Reality” though it sounds like I should only be talking about technology, and there’s a lot of people that do that far better.

Do I rebrand again? Rebranding takes time and effort, and I’m spending a lot of time doing that with other sites.

Do I just stick up a standard template (I’m liking Hemingway, as are a lot of other people) and let the content do the talking?

Maybe I’ll stick with “Digital Reality” as it is, after all, really me but in digital format.

Hmm…

Yes, that’s what I’ll do.

But it won’t be (only) about technology.

It will be about a lot of the stuff I used to write about, but better.

So then.