Prototype of a Person

IBA Best Personal Blog Shortlist

As some of you might have noticed I was nominated for a blog award (best personal blog), and I’ve been shortlisted. Overall this is very surprising - firstly, because I didn’t think I had many readers as I don’t get that many comments, just lots of lurkers! (maybe I should start using feedburner?), secondly because within that longlist there are many other blogs that I would have chosen over my own. I’m very flattered indeed, many thanks to the judges and Damien. Good luck to everyone nominated.

The shortlist of nominees for the Best Personal Blog

• Irish Flirty Something*
• Grannymar*
• The Biopsy Report
• Conortje
• Lozenge
• Fatmammycat.com
• The Waiting Game
• The Swearing Lady*
• Hangar Queen
• Lebanon an Irish Experience
• Head Rambles*
• That Friday Feeling
• Avoiding Life

(*personal favourites of mine)

I’ve been blogging for a few years, but only started writing regularly over the last year. Thus, the Blog Awards has really piqued my interest this year (and not just because of the nomination!). For me the great thing about the Blog Awards is how so many non-blogging people that I know have started taking an interest (once coerced into visting the site!), and this is because the longlists provide a very interesting and quality insight into the Irish Blogosphere. For those of you reading that are unfamiliar with the many brilliant irish blogs out there, might I suggest visiting each of the nominees listed on Awards.ie and maybe even voting for your favourite once voting commences.

Spotted: Some Fluffy Badge Love

My Fluffy Badge (thank you Damien) finally has a home - on my bookshelf. It’s a bit of a nerd alert though, so shield your eyes!

Turn your Nokia S60 Handset into a Wireless Hotspot

JoikuSpot is a free piece of software that allows you to share your Nokia Series 60 Internet connection with a wifi enabled device. It basically turns your phone into a wireless router and I think this software has huge potential for use with the iPhone, iTouch, Asus Eee PC and Nintendo DS, especially in Ireland.

For Irish consumers (and Apple Fanboys) hungry for mobile internet through Apple’s mobile version of Safari this could finally makes it a reality. JoikuSpot will, in essence, enable you to make any iPhone or iTouch 3G capable, and a 3G connection as we all know is far superior to Edge, which the iPhone currently supports. Infact, why buy an iPhone at all when an iTouch is cheaper, already available in Ireland and much slimmer in size? Pair your iTouch with a s60 nokia connected to either Vodafone or Three and you’ll have mobile internet at high speed with that wonderful Apple interface, and at a fairly reasonably price.

The only caution to heed is the fact that the wifi connection you create using JoikuSpot is actually an unsecure one, meaning anyone else nearby with an iTouch (or other wifi enabled device) could also connect to the internet. Connecting to 3G and wifi at the same time will also drain your battery down quite quickly, so I wouldn’t expect this to work for more than two hours or so (at least on your handset).

Currently the software is in beta and only supports the higher end N-series and E-series handsets, but I’m sure that will change as newer versions emerge.

Update: Rob wrote about this too - “Joikuspot - Euro iPhone Killer?“

Bonsai Tree Love

Some time before Christmas I picked up a Bonsai Tree from Aldi for €7.99 - part of me thought “This could just be a trial run” as I had always wanted a Bonsai Tree, but had this preconcieved notion that they were too expensive (and that if I was unsuccessful in looking after it I would be rather annoyed with myself for wasting hard earned Euros).

Although I opted for the cheap route, I’m very happy with it because the plant I got in Aldi is absolutely flourishing. I’m so delighted! Take a look at the before and after picture, to see how much it’s grown in a month. At the moment it’s pruned in an informal style as I’m only just reading up on all the different methods to go about this. Lidl are selling them at the moment, pick one up if you can (pity the pot is so garish though).

Picking the perfect spot for it, and figuring out the perfect amount/frequency to of watering is certainly hit and miss (the first week I over-watered and it developed some mould on top of the soil) but once you figure it out it’s plain sailing from there. Mine is on our kitchen table (because the kitchen gets lots of sun, but you can’t put it in direct sunlight) and I water it once a week by submerging it up to the first branch.

This is my sweet little Bonsai, I love it because it simply is… a teeny tiny baby tree!

New Bonsai - 23/12/07

I love my Bonsai! - 04/02/07

Spotted: Politically Correct Toilets

The toilets in Marks and Spencer’s (Jervis) aren’t just Male, Female and Mother&Baby - they’re also for skinny girls, frumpy girls, rugby boys, fat boys and headless babies.