Chawlk

1. Drawar
2. Fenxy
3. Decaflon
4. Two Credits
5. Wriging
6. Loose Suits
7. Chixe
8. Dud3s
9. Wing Colors

 

Risk with a back up plan is my option. Give yourself enough rope to explore but make sure you have bread on the table :)

I'm for the Eden project personally. Their work on preservation of plants is what really makes me think they deserve it and although I've yet to go we do plan as Simon is a landscaper and he really wants to go there.

I pretty much agree with you although I'm leaning towards a sub notebook being announced. I won't get one but it just seems the macbook doesn't fully match the loss of the ickle powerbook. My money is on a major update to the iPhone - I just have this sneaky feeling there is something much more that can be turned on afterall we've got the fill those missing icon spaces. I'm also thinking an update to leopard for something more than bug fixes, they threw out a lot on launch that was 'meant' to be in so I'm leaning towards that being part of it. I don't think a iPhone nano though which I've seen people talking about.

I dunno, for me the muppets wins over sesame street every time.

We had a mice problem at the start of this year - when I say problem it was more of a motorway for their babies to commute to freedom through the house. Judging by the amount (I counted up to 3 doing the run in one sitting and we saw more) it was a mouse commune they had somewhere in the wall - bare in mind though we live in the country and uninvited pets tend to go with the location.

During this we discovered our older female dog Barley hunts and tortures mice like a cat. We also discovered that our puppy Dillon is a big fraidy dog and tried to hide from the mice. Until that point I'd not even seen a dog torture a mouse like a cat and was quite surprised. Oddly enough since that we seem to be mice free.

I didn't have a prenup with Simon. To be honest, it hadn't even entered my mind to have one. We did though get together at a time when we both hadn't got our own possessions in the form of house or money - we were younger and have got everything we have now through working together. Whilst I'm my own case, I truly do believe that where we are (the word is we not I), we have got together and half and half fits for us. Now, I don't claim it does for everyone and can be called naive in this statement.

The only thing that gets me really about prenups is just like marriage I don't think I could be with someone I felt it was necessary to have one with. Maybe this is because I didn't own a house, was just starting out in life and I knew Simon for a long time before even going out with him and then even longer before our marriage. Heck, you'd have asked me before this marriage about prenups and I'd have stopped you at the marriage word as I was admittedly against marriage.

Our situation is one where we both know I currently earn more - yet, Simon invested time in helping me go to college, Simon took the house reigns when I was working 18+hrs a day trying to build up my business and even now he may not earn as much but he certainly makes up for it in contributions to the house. Yes, you can't always know what you are letting yourself in for and yes you could say I was lucky. Everything that comes into the house is a 50/50 split and the same even goes for my business which he is a partner in legally even though he is only starting to work in the industry and learning. We've had a joint bank account from the start and before marriage had access to each other's bank accounts - we've worked the 'what's mine is your's way' from the start.

I guess it really comes down to what time you get married in some ways and your financial situation. If one earns more than the other from the start and owns property and other assets, whilst the other doesn't - maybe that is a case for a pernup. I can't really comment not having been in that situation. Perhaps, if it was now I was getting married and not when it was then I may feel differently.

I think I recall the 'getting half' was from the time where a lot of women didn't work so they brought up the kids and gave up having 'careers' (you can of course argue bringing up a kid is a career in itself).

I've had to slow down a lot this year so rather than a splat calm december I want to continue on the steady slow plodding that has become part of my day now compared to the mad running about trying to do 100 things at once. Usually though December has been a time when I get out of my brain the things I want to do and take the usual calm in work and make them happen.

I this year got diagnosed with high blood pressure which has woken me up very quickly to something I wasn't paying attention to before. I'm now on medication for it and having to take a tablet every day potentially for the rest of my life. Whilst, it seems mine came from the illness I had and it's not my diet or lifestyle (you have to go through a lot of tests to confirm that), I am feeling very very aware that there are things I can do to help my blood pressure and slowly working on them. Whilst, it's a fact that some people are just predisposed to it or can have it happen not in reaction to their lifestyle, giving it a helping hand to be good isn't bad.

I think you also have to loose the currency = success mind set. You can get other indirect earnings from your blog. Personally, one of my blogs has brought me clients as its about design. I don't have advertising but considering 80% of my work seems to come from my blog directly or indirectly, you could say I earn a full time wage from my blog.

Yes the content is the most important answer has been said before, but it is because its right. Link bait blogs or advertising drenched blogs get seen through. I don't agree with the hobby can be bad as full time notion, but I do work that I consider a hobby also and for me earning a living doing something I love works.

f someone broke into my flat and I had a gun, I'd be a complete fool to shoot them.

I'd force them to do the hoovering instead.

lol, then again I must be a leftie dope smoker considering I am baffled at guns and being from the UK baffle at the notion of gun holster pillows.... I may not like this country all the time but I sure love the fact we don't have adverts for gun racks under our beds. Over here guns are simply for one thing and that's hunting animals not other humans. I live in the country side and guns here are used for shooting or land management. I have my own not overly agreeing feelings about guns at all, but I certainly am baffled by someone that feels so unsafe in their own house they have to sleep with a gun. I second the notion that you should move. I've lived in some pretty unsafe parts of the UK and never once felt a gun teddy was needed. I think I'd feel less safe if my partner slept with a gun than I would in any bad area.

I get 25% up front for most clients. Unless I've built up a relationship where I know the client will pay it's pay remainder and get released from my test server. Of course, there are some cases when this is different but it's my usual rule.

Will you "get" it all immediately? Hell no. You have to work at some of it quite hard and I suggest you go right back to the beginning to get into it otherwise you'll understand the latest series even less.

See this is just what I don't like in comedy - call me odd but I like it to be funny without me having to work out my brain just to 'get it' :)

I know about the Monty Python thing - what can I say I'm on my own there.

Simon and me must be the only UK people that find The Mighty Boosh funny - everyone we know seems to find it hilarious. I've tried to find it humorous but for someone reason it's just not funny to me. Then again I have to be the only person in the world who doesn't like Monty Python - Simon does though so it's only me that is the full lack of humor freak :)

My own rules are:

1. Don't write about a project directly unless clearing with the client first.
2. Don't write about clients directly. This includes mud slinging or axe grinding.

1. Realising I can't do it all myself.
   Learning to take time and get a good base of contractors I can call in to do larger projects or help when times need it has been a hard lesson for me. As a developer and designer I was used to 'doing it all myself'. I have learnt over time that this isn't necessarily the best thing. Whilst I always project manage and code manage to ensure a certain level as it's having my company name after all on it, I have had to learn to let some of it be done not be myself. It was hard and took years of my husband pushing me to do less.
2. Setting revisions.
   One of the big lessons I learnt luckily quite early on was to be careful to set revision numbers for designs in contracts. I learnt the hard way - I often seem to have learnt the hard way with most of these things.
3. Make it look good just for me.
   There are some clients who no matter how much you try and inform them about the web simply refuse to see that anyone would use a browser, computer or platform that is not the one they are using. They cling to this bizarre belief that their set up is the only one that anyone would use. Often this is browser blindness but it can extend into some really odd realms of 'everyone has the same as me' which can include more 'design' features like their love of royal blue and fuscia.
4. X can do it for cheaper y.
   I gave a long time ago competing beyond profitability. Sure I may loose some projects this way, but the bottom line is I can't compete with everyone. Initially it was tempting to come in low on a project just to win, this soon became a fruitless and profit loss situation. Now, I price what is a fair price for my market place and my location along with what works for me. I gave up a long time ago looking at x or y and trying to raise or lower my prices to match.
5. Frankenstein design.
   One of the most annoying things is showing a client a couple or so of designs and having them pick out x, y, a, b and c across them all. I have yet to see a client not create Frankensteinesque designs from this.

Even web conferences are low in number in the UK - yes we've got @media / dconstruct and now highland fling. We get totally forgotten from what I see with blogging though. It's a shame as there as you say are a lot of us UK bloggers. It's the good ole UK event warp though - not many seem to happen compared to the US ones.

Now I could chirp in with the usual 'you want to try living in the UK' cry... it would quickly be followed by 'you guys don't have cars' or 'you don't need to go far in your cars'.... how about I don't start that ball rolling ;)

I'd have to go with the techno house thing myself. I've always wanted an 'intelligent' but eco balanced house and think it can be done.

Cas you could go as a 'bearded lady' or 'sword eater' - the sword eater could be a fun one with dummy sword. Either is a fairly simple prop costume. That aside you could take the concept and run with it and become an undead ring master ;)

I got my replacement macbook pro and upgrade disk today... considering I've got the upgrade for £5.95 I am giving it a whirl. I'm not sure I'd spend the full whack though if that was the option open to me. I'm looking forward to the speed increase that is being reported - although considering until this new machine I was using ye olde powerbook I was freaked out by how fast it was before.

@montoya .... or you live in the Uk where it's yet to be delivered to us all.... or you are sitting in front of your old powerbook waiting for your replacement macbook pro to come from mars.

As I run my own business I have gotten into the swing of doing finances and accounts. My personal finances I use ebanking. When I have worked in an office I've always done it at home though never in an office, something about shared computers I don't like for ebanking.

@Josh: that made me chuckle as a tea hating Brit over here. I can't stand the damn stuff. I'm also getting the grey skies where is the sun feeling. Clocks go back this weekend and I'm retreating to woolen clothing and large hoodies. Time to not show an inch of flesh for the next 5 months then... I'm getting really muttery as saw nothing of summer this year from being ill so feels like it was not very long ago it was winter. Nothing more to do than bulk buy soups and get the hot chocolate on :)

I've been put in hospital more than once thanks to flu so yep getting one over here. I get about a day to 2 days sickness from it usually - sort of like having flu in a few hours / day at worst and nothing compared to what happens if I get proper flu. It's kept me out of the hospital for the last year's bout and even when I did get flu (not all flus are covered as they 'guess' the ones that will come) I have managed to recover enough and not get in the situations I did before. I'm an asthmatic and for me it's something I will always get every year, I take flu very seriously thanks to what it's done to me.

I would like to add a good night:

ARRRRGHGHGHGHGHGHHGH mutter mutter mutter.....

My puppy just dropped his kong off the bed for the 7th time in a row.... either he's having as bad a day as me or trying to tell me something.

So, if you are today or any other day please feel free to use this note as your vent o release. Let the releasing continue ;)

Nope they seem to come from china as in the source. I know I was confused by that. I am now waiting to get a replacement and looking at another long wait. I didn't go to the Apple Store as the closest is a fair distance away - sort of wishing I had as it would have saved weeks waiting.

We're married but the way Simon and me have worked from the start is by pooling all money and then paying for things out of that - this happened even before married. I've earnt more than him mainly but personally I find this not an issue - we're in it together. There are non money ways of contributing - Simon cooks and I don't for instance.

In the UK they seem to be going by the shipped date for whether you get leopard or not. I ordered 20 something September but they didn't ship until 6th october, hence I get leopard for £5.95 for both.

Got the 15 4 ones, I've had a 17 powerbook and it just wasn't portable enough for me - I felt like I'd shrunk trying to use it on my lap. We've got cinema screens that we got with them (only 20 inch but good enough). I still have the mac 'tick' book here so I'm using that now until the new one arrives - we shall see if it does tick and explode by the time the new one arrives.... it's somewhat exciting wandering when the tick bomb will come ;)

We also got the free leopard upgrades so both will have leopard, although I shouldn't have to install it form what the person said. It was odd they seemed to be saying it even if shipped this week would have leopard on it - which would rock. Then again shipping != arrive to the UK and these ones took 3 weeks.

Bar the ticking and the fun game of when will it explode or suffer a dead hard drive, I'm really impressed so far.

Can't he eat some dark chocolate though? SImon can we are lucky there is some lactose intolerant dark chocolate where we are.

A coffee bean header... now that I can't resist :)