Archive for 2006
May 24th, 2006
Monday Nights is French class night! Usually my homework effort is pretty poor, but when we were asked to design a menu for a restaurant of our choice, and we weren’t particularly busy in the office, well I kind of spent perhaps a little too much time on it.
So if this were a real restaurant not only would it have the same address as the British Consulate in Paris but (as you would expect for a quality eating establishment) it would be very pricey.
Anyway, that’s all I’ve got to say on the subject, if you’re looking for some quality French cuisine, you may want to try Belcanto who for some reason have strangely similar menu’s to Jonny’s, but with the added advantage that they’re a real restaurant, oh, and opera singers will bring you your food. Boop.
Oh, and a big big thanks to Minn who provided some of the translation.
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May 18th, 2006
You may have seen these guys Kissing Hank’s Ass. If not, have a watch, it’s funny and well written (although, it does contain swearing, so if you don’t like that sort of thing, don’t watch).
The story is written by the Rev J Huber an atheist with some pretty definite views on the whole idea of God. Reading his FAQs you get the idea that this guy is not only very opinionated but also fiercley intelligent. So why then am I raving on about a video that obviously mocks what I believe?
I’m writing about it because it matches exactly the attitude I had to the whole religious thing before I became a Christian. I can relate to the frustration that people feel that someone might believe in this God that doesn’t make sense, He doesn’t add up, and yet people still follow Him.
I’m also writing about it because I think it’s the impression that many people have of Christians today. We’re the guys that stand on the street corner shouting the odds, prophesying hell fire and damnation. And it’s true, some of us are. But I also think there are many more Christians that are out there, helping people, putting themselves in difficult and dangerous situations because they’ve dedicated their lives to making peace and following the ideals of Jesus.
So yeah, the bible is important, and it is confusing, but the message of the new testament remains the same. Have a look at Matthew 5, it pretty much sums up the whole idea for me.
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May 17th, 2006
9rules are having their 4th round of submissions today! And of course, being one of those web geeks, I’ve submitted. Yeah, ok, I’ve even had the date written in my diary for the last month. And yes, both my laptop and my work computer popped up with reminders just so I wouldn’t forget. Huh, like I was going to.
So there’s really no point in this post other than to show off that I remembered, and possibly to give all my adoring fans the opportunity to comment and show the fine people (yeah? Nothing wrong with a little ass-kissing…) just how amazingly popular this site is… What?! A man geek can dream can’t he?
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May 14th, 2006
Usually a trip to the supermarket is an uneventful affair, more or less your standard drive-shop-pay-drive event. But not so last week on a visit to Tesco in Brownhills. I caught my first glimpse of the thing as I turned onto the Lichfield road. Getting closer I could see it was some kind of pick-axe wielding metal giant.
Apparently this cost £70,000! I just don’t know what it’ll add to the area. Granted, we shouldn’t forget our heritage, but couldn’t have that money been better spent on a public service? Admittedly this isn’t a particularly educated opinion, but no doubt a question a lot of people in the area will be asking.
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May 11th, 2006
Chris Rhee recently had a load of stuff stolen from his friends car. So he set up a site to raise $5000 in $5 donations. And like charm, it’s working. At last count he’d already got over $700 from kind people who like his work, and want to help him carry on doing what he’s doing.
But he’s not the first to use his relative web fame to generate funds. Jason Kottke gave up his job to become a full time blogger, relent on, actually I don’t know how that guys makes his money…
So how then does one make money from the web? There are several internet stars I guess, people who are famous to those in the know, those that tour the web confrenece circuits. I’m talking about such luminaries as Jeffrey Zeldman, Molly Holzschlag, Andy Budd. Names which won’t mean a lot unless you’re in the know.
I guess you have to have some kind of natural talent, or get some kind of big break, but for the rest of us? Well, I guess we count our chickens, get on with our run-of-the-mill web jobs and take our thrills where we can find them.
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May 10th, 2006
Thanks to Si for his suggestion for what to write about next, I bring you the Multipack Logo design walkthrough, thingy…
The final logo is an amalgamation of an several different logo’s and ideas from the multipackers. The original idea for the circular theme came from Si who was thinking along the lines of the circles representing a pack of something, it also worked as a representation of system, all the parts working together for one common goal.
This, thought Chris, is a good idea but it needs to more personal. So was born the concept of the faces. The circular theme would fit perfectly with the face idea (as, you know, faces are round). Taking the whole lot into Fireworks, I mocked up several of the founding multipackers as simple vector faces; using beards, glasses and funky hair-dos to differentiate between the people.
Several concepts later and wham-bam-thank-you… erm… Yeah, well, we all decided on a logo we could work with. Here then are several of the early ideas. Enjoy. Oh, and that font you ask? Why, It’s everyone’s favorite VAG Rounded.
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May 8th, 2006
I occasionally give my brain over to thinking about things. One of these things recently has been this very blog/diary/random crap generator which you (you lucky person) are currently reading. Besides pondering over the general design and, dare I say it, new features, I’ve been pondering the content.
Usually ideas for new posts come to me and I mental write them before I sit down at the keyboard. Then I’ll write a little of what I intended, and completely change it. Let me give you an example, are you sitting comfortably? Good, then I’ll begin.
The other week I watched a film called “Dead Man Walking“, which I thought was going to be a load of old crap but turned out to be one of the best films I’d seen in ages. It’s about a nun who befriends a murderer on death row. She shows him the kind of love and compassion you read about Jesus giving people, despite the fact that this guy is a rapist and murderer and everyone else sees him as nothing more than an animal. And it got me thinking what an awesome dude that Jesus guy was, that his message of love made him so dangerous that the authorities put him to death. All this in an age where things like stoning a woman to death for adultery was par-for-the-course. He really did give hope to the hopeless.
And then I think, nah, I couldn’t possibly write about that. I get half way through writing a post, and give up, or it gets stored in my ever growing unpublished folder. So I know I don’t need your permission to write about anything that inspires me, but what do you want? What are the things you’ve enjoyed reading (if anything) over the last few months? What are the things you’ve hated?
As per usual… Over to you.
8 Comments »
May 4th, 2006
After nearly two years I’m moving on from Michelle’s cell group. Steve, Gill & I are joining a brand new cell based in Coalpool, which should prove to be both extremely interesting and no doubt challenging.
While I’m keen to see what the new cell will bring, tonight has also given me a chance to reflect on the journey I started at the end of an Alpha in Michelle’s living room what seems like a life time ago. I’ll miss my weekly meetings with all these guys, it’s been interesting to say the least, and without doubt a lot a fun!
Onwards and upwards. For His glory.
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April 28th, 2006
You’re giving away what? Yes, that’s right! You could be the owner of a shiny new Music Card pumped full of £25 worth of credit. All I want you to do is design me a new footer.
A New Footer?
Yes, ever since the design re-launch the footer has been a kind of work in progress. In it’s current state, it’s simply functional - I’d hardly call it beautiful. But looks aren’t everything, a footer should be the work horse of any decent blog, linking to things that’re going to pull in traffic left right and center. So then, these are the things that I want from my footer…
- Good Looks - In a word - Stunning (obviously fitting in with the rest of the site)
- A link to my CC licence
- A link to Wordpress.org
- A link to lloydyweb
- I have two ‘traffic’ links on here at the moment, I kinda want to keep the technoranki…
- Anything else you can think of that is essential for a good footer
- Valid xhtml 1.0 Transitional
So I’ll be judging all entries (assuming I get any) on their design AND functionality. Bonus points for original ideas, or integrating (good) third party tools.
The prize, the deadline and all that gumph
The prize is a £25 iTunes Music Card for use in the UK store (sorry guys from other countries). Feel free to enter if you’re not from the UK, I can still send you the card, use it if you can. I’ll be judging all the entries, and my decision is final. Closing date for entries is 28th June 2006, and the winner will be announced on this site a week later (5th July 2006).
All images, code and anything else that goes with your entry becomes my intellectual property. You agree to to all these terms when you enter. Nothing scary, just want to make sure no one can come back demanding money for using their design, cos that’s just mean.
Ok, ok, so how do I enter?
Look at the html / css that currently make up the footer (easy for those in the know), and design something spectacular. Zip it all up and e-mail it to makeMeAFooter(at)roobottom.com.
I’m looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with.
8 Comments »
April 24th, 2006
There is a legend living in Walsall. His name is Vic and he is the guy who (with others) established Walsall Community Church. Nowadays you’re more likely to find him in some far flung place spreading the Gospel.
I want to share with you a story he told us Sunday morning. I want to share it because it’s an amazing story. I for one sometimes don’t realize just how awesome these things are that Vic brings back from his travels. It’s God moving and doing things today that the apostles were writing about nearly 2000 years ago.
Vic was travelling on a train, in a typical Indian carriage packed with hundreds of people. Just the sort of thing you see on TV travel shows, people clinging on where they could. It was to be about a three and a half hour journey, so Vic settled down with his lap top to make the most of the time by doing some writing.
The people on the train were fascinated by this, some of them were farmers and had never seen a computer before. Very soon a large crowd had gathered, and were shouting random questions to Vic about what this thing was. Vic, being an enterprising bloke, and never one to pass up an opportunity decided to show them a presentation he had about the Passion movie. The crowd, now about a hundred or so, were fascinated. It took time to go through each of the slides as information about what was going on was translated and passed back through the train to the people who couldn’t see.
One he had finished, Vic asked if there was anyone who was sick. A question that was met with confused silence. Then one man shouted from the back, “My daughter is sick, and she is here now”. As they fought their way towards Vic, it was obvious that she had a paralyzed arm, her fist was tightly clenched and the arm was hanging useless by her side. She had been injured in an accident two years previously, and had been like this ever since.
Vic started to pray for her. Gradually, she started to move her fingers, and then raise her arm. By the time Vic had finished, she was waiving her arms up and down, beaming from ear to ear. The dumbfounded father couldn’t believe what had happened. His daughter had been completely healed!
Not only had the little girl been given back the use of her arm, over a hundred people had witnessed the power of God.
Make of this what you will. It’s just one of many amazing stories Vic (and many, many more people) have of healing and the power of God. Some of you may be shocked by this, some of you may dis-believe it, some of you may even have seen this kind of thing happen. My point is that this thing does happen. Awesome? Certainly.
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