You may or may not have noticed that I’ve changed the title of my blog. It now makes it quite clear whose blog it is and what the content relates to.
I also thought it appropriate I highlight the amateur radio aspects because they did seem to be taking over anyway. Over half of all posts to date (38 of 67 at the time of writing) are amateur radio related!
You may have noticed that my site now has a rotating list of links in the sidebar. This uses the ‘Better Blogroll’ widget built by Jon Dyer. His blog page detailing the use of this really neat widget is here.
I like it because you can configure it to display a fixed number of links that are refreshed each time the page loads. The links shown are chosen at random from those entered in the ‘Links’ section of your Wordpress Dashboard.
Looking back at the posts I’ve made since starting this blog, it’s plain to me that the majority of them relate to some aspect of amateur radio. I suspect this is in part a seasonal thing because I certianly don’t forsee much by way of portable operations in the dead of winter.
I am sure that over time a balance will be struck and other aspects of my life will consume more space here. I know there are many things I do intend writing here that I never get around to. Maybe I need to make time for more of those day to day entries.
This was a question recently put to me by my partner. It’s a question I couldn’t really give a straight answer to.
Is there anybody out there? Does anyone ever read any of what is written here? The honest answer is that I really don’t know. I certainly don’t write with an audience in mind or with any thought as to who might read what I write. I write for myself in the same way someone might keep a paper diary - to look back on and to remember people, places and experiences of the past.
Like the tree that falls in the forest when no one is there to hear it - the question then asked is ‘does it make a sound?’ - if what I write here is never read by anyone…did I ever write it…and does it really matter?
To be honest I’m not at all sure it does matter but to anyone who does pass this way I say ‘hello and welcome…and thank you’!
First things first - WordPress is a wonderful blog & website authoring tool, no doubt about that in my mind. The problem is that the built in gallery object can be a real pain in the ass to use at times.
Through a long drawn out process of trial and error I now have my Aviation gallery working how I want it. Many hours were spent trying to get the images to display at the desired size.
I now understand that gallery objects retain their settings for image sizes (small/medium/large) as defined in Dashboard>>Settings>>Media at the time the gallery was created, even if you subsequently change those settings. This means that you need to be sure those settings are right for your theme before you start adding galleries!
I now have a few galleries to delete and add again to pick up the new, correct settings. Oh well, you live & learn I suppose!
As I was working on the blog last night someone close to me asked “So why are you doing this and what’s it all about?”…or words to that effect. “Now there’s a question” I thought, why was I doing it? Why do any of us do it (blog that is)?
I suppose it’s partly because it’s an outlet, a form of confessional where we can dump our random and not so random thoughts on an anonymous audience in a way we might not feel able to do with those close to us. Maybe for some people it’s because they feel that they have something worth saying that they feel others should read.
Sometimes as we meander around the vastness of the internet we happen upon sites such as this, personal blogs describing the trivial and not so trivial aspects of our lives. It’s warming when reading those words to realise that we’re all basically the same inside, sharing the same hopes, fears and insecurities, even if not explicitly stated. I would say that it is that sense of deriving something from the day to day trivial aspects of others lives that drives me to write, that others might perhaps see a little of themselves in my words.
I write with no overriding agenda, no grand idea, just a random outpouring of unconnected thoughts that may over time give some impression of what life as me, an average guy, is like. It will also remind me of things I may have long forgotten, people and places once known, good and bad memories, highs and lows, trials and tribulations of a life most ordinary.
So here we are, my first blog and my first blog entry.
As I write this I have no idea who might read this or indeed who might be interested in what they read here. but, in the spirit of the internet and the proliferation of blogging, here is my contribution.
This blog is written in a spirit of goodwill and co-existence. My intention is to show & tell without insult or injury. Comments in a similar vein are welcome.
Welcome to my blog!