I've been wondering (and this is why there have so far been few blog entries here) what exactly I should be using this blog for.
The other one, The Rev Up Review, is the blog for my podcast (called...er...The Rev Up Review), and it's echoed at http://revup.libsyn.com/. Stuff that's related to the podcast will be posted on The Rev Up Review, so what's this for, given that it is kind of related to what's going on there?
After my unforgivably stupid episode concerning the Windows Recycle Bin, which was prompted by a concern for how much bandwidth I was using, I have given up any pretence of regulating the amount of downloading I'm doing. Wanadoo state they're not checking customers' bandwidth at present, but when they do, I'm going to have to upgrade. Whether that's to one of their higher-capped packages, or to a competing ISP, is something I'll decide at the time. I could be seriously better off switching to cable, for both broadband internet and telephone.
NTL, my local cable provider, do several packages including cable TV, but frankly I'm not much bothered about the TV side of things. I have Freeview, which I got mainly for digital radio, but if NTL have a good offer at the time, including a box with a digital audio output, that could swing it for me.
Yes I'm back, though a lot later than I'd thought. How am I supposed to find time for all this stuff?
I'm getting the next Rev Up Review podcast ready, and I've received emails from a couple of authors who have given me permission to use their promos. I had hoped to be posting the new podcast this evening, but I had a major black-fingered-episode on Saturday morning, as my trusty HP printer is finally on its last stutterings. It's served me well for nearly ten years, so I can't complain.
So it was a quick trip to the local PC box-shifter to pick up a new printer -- I went for the Epson R300, as it was cheap, and bog-standard, and I'd been thinking about buying a proper photo printer for some time.
I set it up today, connected -- dare I say it -- to the Mac mini.
Okay I admit it. I'm one of those, you know, victims of what they're calling the 'halo effect'. One of those -- speak it in low tones, covering the mouth -- 'switchers'.
Well, maybe. I'm not entirely new to the Mac. I have a Mac Plus right here in my studio, though I've not used it for a number of years. And, let's face it, I'm not about to stop using my year-old Winderz PeeCee, as it's a blistering box of power that currently runs my life for me.
But hey, being a Mac user is kinda like, totally awesome and cool.
It's about time, I thought. After all, everyone's doing it, aren't they?
I haven't tried it, so far. Until now. As a writer, I've always had the feeling that my writing should be channelled into something more productive, something that someone, somewhere, might pay actual money for.
Which is all very well, except that recently I haven't been writing. So as an excuse for not maintaining an online journal, or web-log ('blog'), it doesn't really stand up.
Nevertheless, I've lots of things I want to be doing, and only so much -- or so little -- time to do them. I have several interests: writing fiction; writing non-fiction; reading; listening to radio drama and book-readings; photography; fiddling with computers; going to the theatre, listening to music (on CD, and -- in the case of classical music -- going to concerts). And architecture. Mustn't forget that one, even if it is my work, and as such I have mixed feelings about it.
Some years ago I even cultivated an amateur interest in philosophy, though I never properly followed it through.
In the last few weeks I have swayed with the breeze and become interested in the bizarre world of 'podcasting' -- to the extent that I've even produced an experimental podcast of my own.
But when do I find time for all of this, as well as the day-to-day living, cooking, laundry, etc?
The answer is that I don't. Something gets reluctantly squeezed out, left on the side of the highway that is my congested calendar. But neither am I particularly willing to give stuff up. I do all this -- or try to -- because I like it.