hitting the wire*

Here, there and everywhere!

Despite some rather obvious encouragement from Joe across at SwimGeek, I've not found my muse for "the wire" again just yet.

I have helped Craig Byren get a post together on the ViaData blog called "Have we been ripping off our customers for years?" - ouch!

I've blogged at Umoya's site on "7 good reasons to use VSAT".

I've joined the crew at The Mac Blog to see if I can add value there - first post was "10 reasons I love my Mac" - somewhat corny, but it was interesting to try and quantify exactly what it is about this piece of technology that gets under your skin like it does.

Shifting focus

Exactly 84 days since I last posted.  A lot longer since I wrote anything of any weight.  Frightening to see that the number of visits per day have hardly slacked off.  Someone somewhere explain that to me!?

I intend posting on this blog from now on more sporadically than before.  I'm still involved in ISPA and in CITI and am in the market for short to medium term contracts in IT / telecoms.  I am however, intending to start a new blog, focusing on Energy - renewable, sustainable, fuel cells, carbon footprints, solar, wind, wave, coal, oil, biofuel, the lot.  So as you can imagine, there will be no specific focus to begin with.  Not until I've zero'd in on an opportunity to pursue in earnest! ;)

I attended an "Energy Summit" at Spier today and was struck by the similarities between the Telecoms sector and the Energy sector... a seemingly inept regulator, an incompetent government department (I intend referring to them as the "Dept. of Minerals-and-oh-yes-Energy" from now on), private sector battling to make headway, lots of people talking, very few doing.

And I thought the ITC sector had  a bunch of acronyms!??!..... the Energy sector appears to be worse!  The only difference is that they go for 5 letter acronyms instead of 3.  I mean who came up with REEEP??  And we won't talk about the salaries... there the numbers go the other way! :(

OK, so.... while I work up some enthusiasm, how about some suggestions for a name for the new blog?

"Running on Empty" is my favourite so far.
"The Oil Rag"?
"HyperEnergetic"?
....??

Oh yes, and anyone have any suggestions on a good blog authoring tool for a Mac?  I'm purging myself of all Microsoft products (Neo Office for Mac is keeping me happy).

This is not an abandoned blog.

No really.  It has been touching to receive queries about my demise (as opposed to the blog's demise).  I will be back.  The focus is likely to either broaden or shift though.

I have no fixed plans at the moment.  The 29th of Feb 2008 is my last day with Storm (a wholly owned Vox subsidiary at present) after 8+ years.  I'll be available to consult in the telecoms sphere.  I have declined some very kind and generous offers from large corporate-like outfits for permanent employment.

I've paid off debts.  I have a few months salary in the bank.  For a month or two, I'll be project managing some extensions to my house (including a stable which we may just build using Adobe bricks doing the green thing and all!).  I have not bought an Aston Martin and do not intend to - a sea kayak will suffice.

Oh, and to follow on from a previous post I'm too lazy to link to, the 3rd replacement laptop since September is dying on me.  I ordered a MacBook Pro on Monday.  Prepare to be possibly inflicted with cult-like ravings about a new toy.

gone fishin'...

We're off camping in the Groot Winterhoek Wilderness Area tomorrow.  If the Cape winter rain abates we may just stay for the rest of the long weekend.  I've been too busy to give blogging much attention and 2 days out of next week's 3 working days, I'll back back in Jozi to participate in a panel discussion at VoIP World Africa 2007.  So excuse me if it appears as though I have left the blogosphere for good!

Dave

MacBook Pro up for grabs

I see the good folk at SA Blog Awards have made it known, so I can say how chuffed I am that Storm have agreed to put up a MacBook Pro for the blog voted “South African weblog of the year - The best of the best from SA” by none other than…. YOU!

So as soon as the shortlist goes up,{it’s up!} get voting!

Having a problem with commenting?

If this is you after trying to add a comment to a post here and especially if you’re on the end of a DSL connection… do me a favour please.  Click on this link.  Note your IP address at the time (with Telkom DSL it changes daily), and drop me a mail (dave (at) hittingthewire.co.za) with a short description of what you experienced and the IP address you noted down.

I’ve had 3 people complain in short succession that TypePad either hung during the process or that comments never appeared after what seemed to be a successful save. Six Apart are playing with some spam-busting measures and admit they may have been too enthusiastic.  The IP’s and problem descriptions may help them.

As I am only too delighted to get comments from those taking time out to read my ramblings, I’m distraught to think of feedback going awry – let me know please.

blog tag - you're it!

OK, blame this on Jeff Pulver – found this amusing idea on his blog just the other day.

“As a blogger, people may know you, but how good does anyone ever really know anyone? During the past few weeks I've attended a number of charity events in and around New York City and I've run into people who otherwise would be total strangers to me except for the fact that they recognized me from my blog and spoke to me as if they knew me. Most of the time they picked a relevant topic of conversation based on what I had recently blogged about and kept me engaged in an idle chit-chat.

And this experience put me down a path of thinking about some of the people I only know of in the blogosphere and for a moment I looked at them as under developed characters in a novel. And I asked myself, "How would we get to learn some additional information about these characters?" And then I stumbled upon a bubble of people talking about "Blog-Tag."

Turns out there is a game of Blog-Tag going around the blogosphere in which bloggers are sharing five things about themselves that relatively few people know, and then tagging five other bloggers to be "it."

They in turn tag other bloggers, and so on.

Being new to the blogging game, I’m not sure how many of bloggers I know or read will be up to this, but in case you are…

James Enck, Ian Hay, Henk Kleynhans, Mike Stopforth, Avinash Kaushik … you’re “it”!

(if you’re not one of the five poor souls I’ve inflicted this on and wish to join in – don’t let me stop you! ;)

Five facts not that many people know about Dave Gale: