I’m something of a technology nut. This isn’t to say I need the latest piece of gadgetry as soon as one appears on the market – I succumbed to the lure of an iPod just this year – but I’m a big fan of the possibilities.
I like that my phone has a voice memo function so I can record random jingles at short notice. I like that I can then bluetooth it to my laptop for work later or email it to Daniel for a second opinion. I like that it has a torch application for when I’m trying to see around the back of the storage locker where we keep our kit. I like that someone thought to make a spirit level application for my phone for when I’m doing DIY around the house (more often than you’d think, these days). It’s nothing that I couldn’t accomplish if I didn’t carry around a dictaphone, torch and spirit level in my pockets, but it would stretch out my jeans and I don’t have the money for new ones right now.
Blogs are another example of why I’m a fan of technology. I like the sheer range of what’s available – from the informative to the eye-opening, inspirational to just plain heart-breaking. I’ve sorted my RSS feeds into categories and subcategories so that, depending on what I’m in the mood for reading or what sort of information I feel I’m lacking on a particular day, I know exactly where to find it. It’s efficient, environmentally friendly than cheaper than subscribing to magazines.
I do have a pet peeve when it comes to blogs though. It’s the inevitable posts that read ‘I know I haven’t posted in a while. There’s one coming soon though’, with no further information attached. I appreciate the logic behind these posts. Sure, you’ll garner some attention when your site pops up in my RSS feed and I remember that your blog exists. But ultimately, I find it pretty patronising. Almost like you see your readers as eager puppies waiting for you to get in from work who need a consoling voice through the mailbox while you talk with the mailman.
(Feel free to send your pet peeve/puppy puns on a postcard to the usual address. Though I’d like to think I’ve done the bulk of the work for you on this one…)
With no time for more than a ‘I promise there’s a post coming soon’ on my hands, you’ll notice it’s been three months since I’ve written anything here. I guess the technical term for what I’ve become is… well, a slacker. I have plenty notes and half-posts scribbled down that need finishing – they’ll probably appear at various intervals between now and Christmas. Unlike last time though, it isn’t lack of sleep that’s stopping me from writing.
If you keep an eye on twitter or facebook, you’ll know the band has been touring quite a bit recently. It’s tiring, to be honest. Fantastic fun, but driving back from Scotland inevitably leaves me with a sort mini-jetlag. So I wasn’t that surprised when I felt a little run down on the last trip back to London. I was a bit surprised when I lost my voice from coughing all the time though. And somewhere between surprised and fed up with, among other symptoms, the persistent exhaustion that I couldn’t seem to shake. When I eventually made it out of the house to buy cough mixture, the pharmacist told me I had swine flu and that I should be lying down at home. That is pretty much what I’ve been doing for the last ten days.
I’m currently up to three naps a day to survive the infrequent trips between bed and kitchen, and am eternally grateful we found the nap-facilitating sofa we bought when we moved house (in case you were wondering what took up the month of August). My cough’s starting to die down though and I think finishing this post marks a definite improvement in my energy levels. So with some luck I’ll be back posting content, rather than becoming a slave to my RSS feed, before the month is out.
And on the upside – as a friend of mine commented – I’ll have made up for years of insomnia by the end of the week. Hopefully the same thing can be said about the length of this post and the three months I’m trying to make up for.
More to follow, in just a few naps…