davenash.com

Now you can see Steve on his [MacBook], this really is like Big Brother - In fact Steve is wondering how he could improve audience figures, I suggested setting himself tasks like in the Big Brother house; so if you can think of a good task, leave me a comment.

[This is very cool], the BBC have put a page online that tells you which news stories are currently being accessed by people every thirty seconds. Take a look and just wait for it to refresh, you'll see all the stories jump about into different places depending on how popular they are, very voodoo! Those helpful chaps at the BBC have even put a World map online to show the current usage levels depending on continent, so you can see which parts of the world are accessing the BBC news site more than others - of course I do wonder if such a project is really proving value for money for the TV License fee, still damn cool though!

Stevecam Update: 9:35 Steve goes upstairs for 43 seconds...

As I type I sit here watching my friend [Steve] eat his dinner and watching the television; now you would be excused for thinking that I was in the same room as him but in fact he's at home in Bedford and I'm in my office in Stamford. I am in-fact watching his brand new sparkly [webcam broadcast] that he put online today.

It's interesting how watching people can be so gripping, I've become a huge fan of Big Brother this year after watching the Celebrity Big Brother Special in January - but it seems even more interesting when you're watching someone you know leading their usual day to day routine. I hope that Steve continues to keep his webcam broadcast online, but I'm not sure how long it'll last as these things tend to have a short shelf life and loose their appeal quickly, so I suggest you check out his webcam soon and you might just catch him eating dinner, drinking a glass of wine or even putting his shopping away.

I'm making slow but steady progress with updating my website. I decided some time ago that I would never have enough time to sit down and design the whole thing in one go and the chances of me updating a development copy piecemeal would mean that the website would never be finished. So back in November I decided to put a very basic version online that contained just this blog, not much has changed, the blog is still the only thing of any substance on the website - but as time has gone on, I've added some new features.

About a month ago I added the ability for users to leave comments on what I had posted on my blog. I've had the odd strange comment that hasn't made it on to the website, namely one from my best friend arsing about and one from a rather sad individual whose sole intention it is to belittle somebody else's daily struggle, sad tosser. So generally the comment function has been a success; I do apologise if you do leave a comment that isn't published, but when it comes down to it, my blog is my space and not an area for people to use as a soap box - after all nothing's stopping anyone from getting their own blog.

I've also just added a previous posts list and archive page so users can find out what I've had to say in the past. I'm not quite sure what to add next, I don't really feel comfortable with adding an 'About Me' page as I have enough trouble filling out those Likes and Dislikes boxes on community sites. I'm not an artist or photographer of any great merit so I can't put a Gallery page online, so at the moment I'm just a bit stuck. Perhaps you could use the comment function to let me know what you would like to see on the site, of course I don't promise to necessarily take your suggestions seriously - especially if they're requests to see rude pictures that would scare your Granny.

So far it's been a blissfully uneventful and idle weekend. As part of my self proclaimed weekend idleness I've taken some time out to read some old blog posts from 2002 when I first started keeping a "regular" blog. Reading blog posts from four years ago is almost as cringeworthy as looking at old school photos or reminiscing about fashions you'd rather forget.

As I may have already mentioned previously, the blog posts from that era were full of smiley faces and double entendres and are so saccharin that I'm shocked that no one was given an acute case of Diabetes from simply reading them. I'm sure you're thinking at this point that I'm going to inflict them on you, as is the case with most people who begin talking about embarrassing moments from their past, but you can be rest assured that will never happen - they're simply far too sickly.

I'll never delete them from my old blogger account and at some point I'll spend ten minutes copying them into a text file for posterity; if nothing else they serve to remind me how much of an airhead I could have easily appeared to have been and despite the fact that I felt like my life was at a dead end, it's nowhere near as bad as what was to come and what I've had to pull myself through in the past three years.

If nothing else it's free therapy!

Flies, flies, flies! What is it about flies that causes them to fly around in concentric squares in the centre of the room? Why is it that when you reach for a magazine or newspaper to swat them they magically disappear? Yes, summer is here and it's here with all it's annoyances too! I've already found myself collecting lost Spiders from the walls and underside of my desk in hope that I don't wind up being used as a Spider adventure playground whilst I'm sleeping.

The bright early summer mornings and long evenings have meant that summer has always been a favourite time of year for me, however over the past few years I found myself disliking it more as the unrelenting heat means I get less sleep and I find myself wishing that a blizzard would blow in from Siberia.

So it's with a certain sense of smugness that I await the devliery of our very own portable Air Conditioning unit. I can't take the heat any more, I love the long days and bright sunshine but the heat has to go - so on the 21st June I shall be sitting back in a little Siberia of my own.

Smugness is good, but cold smugness is better!