Life and pondering the merits of a NO REFUND CULTURE
Loved stuff: My Nike IDs
Jul 17th
I am totally in love with my new Nike ID trainers. They are so comfy and feel like a pair of slippers. They are my perfect trainers because I designed them on an app on my iPhone a month ago. They then get made especially for you. How cool is that? Not at all expensive either.
Check out the website www.NIKEiD.Nike.com.
Love Nike even more now.
Loved stuff: Inspiring people
Jul 15th
Over the course of the last few months I have made a number of new acquaintances, friends and people that I have reconnected with that have really inspired me. Past uni folk, people that I have met up with through Twitter engagement and through work. These people are smart, kind and thoughtful. Great stuff.
Grumped: Car assault
Jun 26th
Got home from work yesterday to discover the following on my car. This vicious bad taste was perpetrated by my nearest and dearest. Terrible behaviour.
Loved stuff: The new karaoke that makes you smile
Jun 6th
If you watched the Eurovision Song Contest last week (like me) you may have enjoyed the excellent flash mob of Europeans (and folk from other countries close[ish] to Europe) dancing away during the interlude before the scoring started. My friend Rhian is fascinated by the flash mob and has pronounced it “The new karaoke”. Flash mobs certainly aren’t that new but added to a sing along they give a karaoke a big lift.
There really is something mesmerising about watching a flash mob get going. Loads of people all moving in unison, it is amazing. There must be some genetic reason that our eyes get glued to this (matching armies make you fixate in the same way). Anyway, here is a selection of flash mob antics from YouTube – ENJOY…
EUROVISION 2010 – takes a while to get going but stick with it (the heavy handed bouncers at the start are classic!) PS London flash mob contribution rubbish in this video – ho hum it just matches the TERRIBLE last place performance of the UK this year!:
BEYONCE SINGLE LADIES (100 OF THEM!) – sound not great but brilliant dancing:
A MEGA-MIX FROM BONDI BEACH – camp as hell amazingness:
OPRAH AND THE BLACK-EYED PEAS:
Crumptales: What the Dickins
May 12th
I met a friend Holly for lunch today, lovely food, great company and a good catch-up. Holly had been at the National Portrait Gallery and gave me a lovely postcard with a picture of Charles Dickens on the front (see below). I thought nothing more of it and returned to the office for a fun filled afternoon.
On my way home and not 10 metres from my office door a suddenly say this sign in my peripheral vision…
How weird is that – I’ve walked passed that sign hundreds of times and never noticed it. Then today my little overloaded brain which filters out so much information suddenly locked into seeing the words ‘Charles Dickens’ – crazy stuff.
Modern living: Your Tory name
May 2nd
We have an election here in the UK next week. I’ve already cast my vote both in the local and national election (with a postal vote). I didn’t vote Tory (aka Conservatives, a right-wing party for the non-UK readers) but this game came up at a dinner party…
Your Tory name is made up of the following:
- Your grandfather’s first name
- The name of a street you have lived on
- The surname of your school headmaster or headmistress
The fun thing is that based on these rules there is a bit of flexibility (two grandfathers, more than one street and at least two head of school surnames), so you get to play a bit…
My Tory name is Frank Langley-Weaver, although I prefer Alec Trinity-Wilkinson.
Great people of Britain make sure you cast your vote.
Crumptales: Cutting through with a powerful message?
Apr 24th
Is it just me or do other people get excited when a parcel comes through the post?
I regularly have parcels of online purchased goodies arrive at our work home in Bayham Street, Camden, and like a small child on their birthday I get almost as excited about other people’s cardboard wrapped surprises as ones addressed to me.
So imagine my delight a few weeks ago when a package arrived with my name on it, the anticipation was heightened because the only thing I was expecting to arrive was a cool lap top sleeve from Tropical Howie. Now this was going to be a bigger parcel and would be identifiable with Australian post marks. This magic parcel was from the UK, it was small, it was book-sized and was in that wrap around cardboard that books can be sent in.
I ripped open the parcel with gusto to discover that, joy of joys, it was indeed a book – wow someone had sent me a free paperback with a red and blue cover. However on reading the title ‘Everything you ever wanted to know about direct mail: complete and unabridged’, I felt suddenly crestfallen. This topic (which I have studied!) doesn’t really float my boat but hey it was a free book and for a micro-second I resigned myself to the fact that I would HAVE to read it, I mean someone had been kind enough to send it to me after all.
So feeling rather daunted by this tome of foreboding, I gulp and opened the look to see how small the font was (ergo how long it was going to take to read), but to my surprise the pages where cut out in the centre to create a hollow so I could directly read the inside back cover. It read: ‘We’ve cut out the hardwork for you – visit www.mmc.co.uk today’. ‘Phew’, was my gut reaction, triple heaps of joy: ‘I don’t have to read this boring book after all’.
Having gone through this five second rollercoaster of emotions I turned my attention to the accompanying letter that was inviting me to an all-day seminar on direct marketing. In an instant I made a firm decision that I wouldn’t be going to the seminar – my adrenal gland just couldn’t cope. Thankfully no-one emailed or called to follow-up on the mailing.
More sensible analysis continues on my business blog.
Loved stuff: Snap happy
Apr 18th
It is my birthday in two days (37 years wise) and my friends and family all clubbed together to get me a digital SLR. We just got back from the photography shop. I’ve unwrapped it and started to work through the manual – much fun and really looking forward to developing a new hobby.
I want to go on a short photography course – I thinking about 10 weeks of a once weekly evening class (with maybe a few hours of homework), just to taken through and understand the basics. I’ve Googled and found some options but there are so many to choose from: any recommendations on a London based course would be brilliant.
So a MASSIVE thank you to Mum and Dad, Charlotte, Brendon and Ruebs, Hena, Claire, Dave and Allwyn, Nadia, Rhian and Will, Christine, Ally and Izzie, Elaine, Chris, May, Charlie and Sonny, Ian, Natasha, Jessica, Grace, Alice and Olly.
You’ve all made me snap happy.
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