2011′s Nearly Over

Dec 15, ’11 5:29 PM
blogwordle

So I thought I’d do a Wordle to see what figured highly on this blog. It’s probably no surprise that the two dominant words here are Conrad and Kolya!  No bad thing – they’re my two amazing, wonderful kids.  It’s been quite a tough year in terms of time and effort.  Business continues as it…
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Ignite Liverpool, 1st December

Nov 29, ’11 3:21 PM
little-peak

I’ll be speaking at Ignite Liverpool 8 on the 1st of December (ie, Thursday evening) about a pretty random topic. I’ve settled on potatoes. Why potatoes? Because although they’re nothing like as dull as you might think, the perception is just that. They’re not glamourous, or pretty, or novel. I also wanted a challenge –…
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Do You Need an SLR?

Nov 3, ’11 2:50 PM
WP_000633-post-process

OK, I’ve always said that you don’t need a fancy camera to take good pictures.  All that a good camera does is add flexibility and choice, but so long as there’s a decent amount of light (and even then, not necessarily that much) a compact or a smartphone camera could well be adequate. This lunchtime…
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Three and a Half Weeks of Kolya

Oct 30, ’11 8:14 AM
IMG_5448

I’m sitting here in the lounge, at 6am, with my laptop open. Two things to note here – once upon a time 6am was more of a going to bed time than a getting out of bed time, and actually it’s really like 7am because the clocks went back an hour last night. But I’ve…
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Las Palmas – Drunken Toddler

Oct 16, ’11 8:01 PM

Ever thought that toddlers act like drunk small people? The way the embed works is a bit rubbish, sorry, but the film’s worth it :-)
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Hello, Kolya Coveney

Oct 7, ’11 10:36 PM
IMG_5376 (Medium)

After a couple of false starts, we left in a hurry for the hospital on Wednesday night. Less than three hours later, at 00:23hrs on the 6th of October 2011, our gorgeous new son Kolya was born. At 3.6kg, 55cm and with a head circumference of 35cm he’s a tad heavier than Conrad, but the…
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In the Forest

Sep 20, ’11 1:46 PM
WP_000325

Conrad and I decided that a walk in the forest would be an interesting change. Obviously, being his first time there, it was an interesting one for him, with the new smells, tricky forest floor and odd noises. He loved it! I forgot my camera, so all shots were taken on my phone – apologies…
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The Liverpool Riots Do Not Indicate That Our Society Is Broken

Aug 10, ’11 9:57 AM
FireShot capture #151 - 'BBC News - Home' - www_bbc_co_uk_news

Ok, the riots matter.  Especially if you’re unlucky enough to have had to face rioters in your district, near your home, or near your business.  In fact, the riots and disturbances are full of tragedy, deaths and ruined lives.  They are, frankly, horrible. And strong action is needed to stop it turning into a joyfull…
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Into the Sea!

Jul 19, ’11 1:20 PM
P1040575

Last month we enjoyed a number of visitors.  One family to come were Adrian and Ania, Igor and Mikolaj – this is great for Conrad as he loves other children, with Igor being four years and Mikoaj nine months old. In fact, it’s hard to describe the delight from Conrad when he’s got a four…
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Getting Quicker

Jul 11, ’11 10:17 AM
FireShot capture #142 - 'Pingdom Panel' - pp_pingdom_com_index_php_member_reports_reports_response_times_27179_2011_07_04_2011_07_11

One of the most important things that gets forgotten about when running a WP site is that performance is important.  We see many sites with page load times way in excess of 2,000ms per page.  Often the site just gets progressively slower over time and the change isn’t really noticed.  That had happened with mine,…
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