Just a quick update for anyone who thinks I might have dropped off the face of the planet: I haven’t.
I’m still here, although “here” isn’t where “here” used to be. I have a new job, and I’ve had to wave goodbye to a number of people who I’m proud to be able to call my friends.
As a result, I’m going to try to post more here so people can keep in touch, and keep up to date with what I’m doing. And thinking.
Feel free to slag me off in the comments, I’ll just interpret it as praise and it might encourage me to post more often 
Right, the next time someone emails you about some wonderful free offer just bloody ignore it.
My wife forwarded me an email (sad that this is how we communicate now) entitled “Free M & S Vouchers!!!”. It’s clearly an attempt to spam the Andy Curran at Persimmonhomes.com email address. Apparently, there’s this special collaboration between Marks and Spencers and Persimmon Homes; the instructions carefully state that all you need to do is cc him in on the email to ten of your mates, and your vouchers will magically appear in the next few days. Ohmygodohmygod: spam everyone.
So stop. Cleverly, a few people have already blogged about this. Perhaps not so cleverly, they’ve printed Andy Curran’s address in full, so now numerous Internet bots will be furiously spamming the account, along with a large network of gullible Internet users (and, yes, I’d have to include my wife in this group) who want their free vouchers.
I suspect Andy Curran has long since had to change his email address (it sounds like this particular scam has been around for a while), or else Persimmon Homes have invested in some decent spam filtering. In fact, I suspect the “this is a scam” email she got from Message Labs originated from the Persimmon email address; it certainly wouldn’t have come from the assorted gmail, hotmail, and yahoo addresses she forwarded the mail on to.
So today’s lessons:
1) if it sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is.
2) if you’re asked to spam lots of people with an email, please don’t; I get enough spam as it is.
3) if you can’t be trusted to use email in a tolerable manner please fill your bath with water, drop any Internet connected computer you may own into previously mentioned bath, and leave for approximately the rest of your life. Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to retrieve the computer from the bath.
I forgot to tip my hat in his general direction when he started, but Mark “Captain Literal” Sheppard has been furiously blogging about Microsoft’s rather lovely PowerShell over at CaptainLiteral.Net. It’s turning into a fantastic resource for all your PowerShell needs, and I believe Mark could become a valuable member of the PowerShell community.
But anyway, enough about techy stuff (that should go over on Techsplosive - plug, plug - even if there’s no content yet) there are a couple of other new bloggers I should mention.
Andy Murdy has started his own blog under the guise of Colonel Irrelevant. He’s already posted a number of thoughts, and I expect more entertainment is on the way.
And last, but by no means least, Stuart Estell - who you may know from my previous posts about The Village Wakes - has created his own blog/site to showcase his music; it’s not a blog in the conventional sense, but it’s similar. It’s called, imaginatively, StuartEstell.co.uk. There’s some great music and information on there already, so download away.
I spotted something odd on the way home tonight.
Around half-way down the M69, heading towards Leicester, just off to my left, I spotted a dark circle in the sky. A perfect circle, no breaks or gaps, just…floating. As I got closer, I noticed it had a downward cone trail below it, and I started to think it was some sort of twister! Didn’t we have one in Brum not so long ago?
As I pootled merrily towards home, getting closer and closer to this thing, I started to think it was, genuinely, a hurricane of some sort. I’ve never seen anything like it before - this big black disc floating ominously above the motorway. And that’s where it was heading: right across the lane I was heading down.
So what happens next? Do I get sucked up, and thrown into one of the numerous green fields that sit beside the motorway? Do I get abducted by aliens, disguised as they are - never understimate how fiendish those aliens can be - as a freak cloud formation?
No. None of the above. I drive through it; under it to be precise, and continue on my way. I wondered whether I should hit the hard shoulder and take a photo, but the sorry excuse for a camera on my phone would’ve made it look like a blackout in a chocolate factory. Whatever that looks like.
I’m not sure that I have any weather experts/fans reading - can you even get fans of weather? - but if there are, or they happen to stumble across this, I’d like to hear from them.
I’m back. I think.
I have a few plates spinning now. I’m technology editor for the mighty Blogcritics; I’ve started my own technology blog called Techsplosive - there’s not a great deal there yet, but it’s coming, trust me; and I’m collaborating with Ashleigh on a gadget blog over at Ian Dixon’s The Digital Lifestyle.
The theory here, is that if I write more often, I’ll write more often. I’ve been stuck in something of an epic rut - the need to post massive, carefully constructed reviews/essays/explorations makes writing anything a bit of a chore. Incidentally, look for a post on that topic very soon.
If I can train myself not to post such epic stuff, my post rate should pick up, and things should come alive again.
Where does Techsplosive leave Food? Things’ll get a bit more personal around here, and there’ll be less tech talk. My reviews - Doctor Who’s back soon, the John Ford marathon will yield a long list of write-ups, and I have many exciting gigs ahead - will stay here. My rants about the latest crap horror remake will stay here. And hopefully a few more personal posts will creep in.
If I don’t have time to write a marathon review of something, I’ll post a short one. Write more, write more. I’m also looking at ways of posting from my mobile phone…maybe email.
If you want tech, point your browser/rss reader at Techsplosive. And Blogcritics. And The Digital Lifestyle.
It’s good to be back. Sorry it’s taken so long.
Number one: blog more. Lately, this place has gathered a few cobwebs, and I’m not happy about that. Things are going to change. I might start posting less specific rambles and rants, as the mood takes me.
Number two: catch up on review material. I’ve got piles of DVDs and CDs to get through for review on Blogcritics, so I need to jump on that in the new year.
Number three: classified.
Number four: classified.
I’ll let you know how three and four pan out…
