In light of the revelations about John Terry, I’ve been thinking about how much one’s private life should affect their standing in both society and employment. Does one’s private life have a responsibility to one’s public life? Does employment really have any grasp over the employee’s morals or ethics?
It’s quite a hard issue to form an opinion on. I suppose my first though is that if you accept a very public role, you have some responsibility to act in an honest and decent way. This said, I do think that there is an insatiable and intense media interest in celebrities’ private lives, probably more so than ever seen before.
I have to admit to being a little surprised by the reaction by the British public over the John Terry incident. I hadn’t realised they would think it all that bad. In some ways, it’s given us a topic of morality to form an opinion on, possibly egged on by the media. It would be interesting to know if John Terry had had relations with someone who wasn’t connected to a team-mate whether or not this would have caused such a reaction.
I wonder if he were a politician we’d be viewing the story differently. I think there is something to be said public responsibility and invariably that does fall over into private life. Having said that I do feel that there is something to be said for private lives being private. Again, I suppose where does that balance lie? Obviously Terry’s affair was part of his private life and technically his morals (or lack of) in this context are part of his private life.
Having some experience of a public life, I know the importance of having a private life which is seperate from public life. That said, I am fully aware of my responsibilities to my public life and don’t behave in a way in my private life which would not be conducive to my public life.
Recently I’ve been cooking lunch instead of buying sandwiches at work partly to save money and partly to eat fresher foods. Eating fresh does make a difference and real foods have quite a different taste to those with additives and colourings. Also having to create different recipies each day is a way of discovering new combinations. I haven’t as yet used any cook books although I may at some point.
However with all of this cooking, it’s made me think how we know which foods we can eat and how many need to be cooked first. I mean who, for example, saw a mushroom growing up from the earth and thought that could be eaten? It’s a risky business because some foods are highly posionous! I wonder how many people have died in order for us to know what we can eat and what we can’t.
Also, are some recipies really pure chances?! With me they probably are! How do we get some really odd combinations which taste very nice? I really fancy smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for breakfast but how did we ever come up with that combination?
Also, what about foods created by man such as bread or pasta? How did these combinations come about? Some by trial and error I expect. I am thinking about cooking some pasta for lunch! I haven’t had pasta for work lunch in a while!
Times are quite interesting in the world of technology at the moment. Part of that is to do with the people who are using technology. Technology is no longer just for the geeks and nerds. Technology has been made available to the general public at large. Technology is packed into every electronic item sold!
Technology has been made much more user-friendly and more and more ‘non-technicals’ are able to use technology. Most people have a PC in one shape or another (laptop, desktop etc), a mobile phone and a music player (e.g. ipod). Part of the problem with this very fast move towards very user-friendly devices is that people don’t really understand the basics of the technology they are using.
Facebook is a very interesting concept in that even those who seem totally computer illiterate seem to be on it. Ironically using it to chat to friends who only a decade before would laugh at geeks for doing! The only difference I expect is that now it’s much easier to chat online.
We are starting to see applications move from the desktop to the web. Whether this will really take off time will tell but it’s an interesting concept and certainly will make a considerable difference to the way computers are used should move applications move from the desktop to the web.
Sometimes it’s easier to think so much that you actually don’t do any living! I think sometimes I used to fall into that trap, but these days not so much. I do think it’s important to think and about a wide range of issues, but not to the detriment of living life in general.
I’ve been thinking a little bit about the past. Tomorrow sees a door shut on a significant part of my life and soul. I’m not really going to go into the details about what is happening but it makes me think of how our experiences and how our labours stay with us through thick and thin and whilst times may change nothing can take away from those memories. It is interesting to see life move on but sometimes it can take an extra moment or two to see what is unavailable to us anymore except in the cherished memory of what has been.
Interestingly with time and perspective things can often come to mean different things, but some stay constant (or as near to constant as can be expected). For me, change for the most part is an important part of life. That’s not to say there aren’t some absolutes in life and change isn’t necessarily about changing those absolutes either.
I know I’m not making a great deal of sense tonight, or at least not to you, dear reader. However, I know what I’m saying to myself and about what I am talking. Maybe I’ll post more about this in years to come!!
OK! I know I haven’t really blogged or tweeted for a while. It does feel like an eternity! I’m not really sure where to start on things I’ve wanted to blog on over the last month and beyond. Life has certainly been busier than usual and I’ve been making more of my ‘down-time’.
For Christmas my parents gave me a Wii Console! It’s a little unlike me to ask for such a device but I have been quite pleased with the Wii! I got Wii sports with the console. I very much enjoy playing tennis and golf. Golf is particularly relaxing. I might even consider getting the golf club wii controller for the sports game! I’m not usually into such virtual gaming but I have to admit I do very much enjoy playing it. It would be great to take tennis up properly in the summer. Although, I’ll need to check what state my racket is in!!
I’ve been toning my skills in Photoshop, Illistrator and InDesign recently. I’ve been using Photoshop for sometime now, but am still learning new tricks from time to time. Illistrator and InDesign I’ve kind of explored from time to time but not in any real great detail. Although, I have used InDesign for some publication work previously. I used to use MS Publisher for a lot of publications in the past but it doesn’t really cut it like InDesign does.
I’ve been learning quite a few new techniques in web development. Sometimes, just having projects to do gives you a set of problems which you provide solutions too. It’s an interesting process really because development is more of an art than it is a science. Development is about taking a journey and arriving at a destination. Provided you arrive at your journey and there aren’t too many road works along the way (and the car doesn’t fail) then it doesn’t really matter about which roads you used to get there. Obviously you want to take as direct a route as possible, but there is pretty much going to be more than one solution. It is interesting to look back over my work from a year ago, or even further back and see how my techniques differ. I have come a long way from the days of creating static html pages!!
I’ve had a small amount of time to play the piano again. I do very much miss not playing when I don’t have the time to sit down and play. I think music is a very fascinating concept and I shall discuss it at some point on my blog, but not tonight, dear reader, as it is getting pretty late!
On which note! ‘Til tomorrow!
I want to remember this moment forever.
This last weekend was pretty perfect! It started on Friday morning with a trip to the Medieval Fayre! Although it wasn’t totally what I expected, it was quite interesting going around all stalls looking at all the different crafts. The traders were dressed up and there was even a proper hog roast (with a full length hog!). We saw a number of products which we liked and, needless to say, bought! I was taken with a old style writing kit. A stylus type pen which you have to dip into an ink bottle in order to write. I have written one letter with it so far and it’s interesting the difference between say a modern fountain pen and this old style pen. Writing with an old pen certainly makes me feel the history of writing. Probably not helped by the fact I’d only seen Shakespeare in Love a few days before where indeed Shakespeare was using a pen and ink!
Having got quite a few items from the Medieval Fayre, we retired home to look at our new possessions but I took the time to rest before my work’s Christmas Do! Actually that’s not quite true as I took a little time to look at my computer with it’s newly installed operating system, Windows 7! Incedentially, the day started with the installation of Windows 7! However That was at 7:30 so that doesn’t count as it was a day off!! After having checked my computer, I rested in preparation for the Christmas Party. Our party was hosted at an Edwardian country manor. The previous night it dawned on me that I actually had nothing to wear to such an event. This time last year, I was self-employed so my Christmas party was rather different!! It was of course to late at this stage to think about renting a Dinner Suit, so I scowered through the wardrobe in a vain attempt to find something suitable to wear to the Party. Knowing that nothing would quite live up to the Dinner Suit, I settled for a normal suit, white shirt and black tie with a blue chinese dragon on it! To my surprise, people seemed to think it worked well.
I was one of the first to arrive and I was rather glad to see some familiar faces! Walking into the function room was an experience to behold and savor. The tables all laid out nicely and the decorations noticable but not over the top. Staff awaiting wait on us and hand us our first drink of the evening. I wasn’t drinking that evening and gratefully accepted an orange juice. It’s funny because many people thought it was a shame I wasn’t drinking but I was enjoying capturing the whole evening soberly! I don’t often drink and for me there is no need to drink in order to have a good time. I was pleased to learn that I had some good colleagues sitting on my table which was entitled ‘Jingle all the Way’ after the film. All the tables were named after some Christmassy film!
My ‘Christmas’ meal consisted of a starter of Stir Fry King prawns with Sweet Chilli Sauce; main course of Grilled Fillet of Seabass on Ginger Pak Choi with Soy and Garlic Dressing and for desert Dark Chocolate Delice with Milk Chocolate Ice-Cream! The Seabass was particularly pleasant, despite it’s scrutiny by my fellow table members! I know it doesn’t sound like a very Christmassy meal (i.e. not turkey) however I like my Christmas meal at Christmas(!) and secondly I didn’t really fancy Turkey and Christmas Pudding in the evening! There was flowing conversation with quite a number of a laughs. I took the lead on ensuring people wore their Christmas-Cracker Crowns!! There was a professional photographer capturing the night on film (or rather SD card) so hopefully there are a few good shots!
After the meal the dance floor opened itself up and the casino started taking bets! Needless to say it wasn’t a real casino in the sense that no money was exchanged but chips were used. I graceously gave my £25 casino voucher to a fellow table member as did another gent. I admit I didn’t take to the dance floor! The songs were a bit fast moving for my liking, especially when there was a photographer there! There was much conversation with those who didn’t dance and even with those who were.
When it was time to leave, I had had a thoroughly nice evening. I was on a non-alcoholic high and it remained with me throughout the whole weekend! On Saturday, I woke up relatively early and shared stories of the night before! I had a light breakfast and then got to work on installing the remaining applications I needed to add to the new Operating System! In the evening we tried just-eat.co.uk for the first time. The website is pretty effecient and the food is good also.
On Sunday, friends came down with their adorable baby girl. It was lovely to see them all and to get to hold their little one. She was a very well behaved little baby! 
I discovered the piano after a month’s absence from it and I have to admit it has really made my day. Whilst I do not claim to be any good at the piano and that sadly is not false modesty; it is an extention of me and it provides me with a way to get stuff inside me out. I guess this is in a similar way to writing, but for me the piano is more natural.
Talking of writing, I have written this evening as well. Personally of course, not for general consumption. I guess, too, I am writing here and without turning you away, dear reader, mainly for me!
I will write more tomorrow I hope. Quite a bit to say I think – but til next time!
I have decided to get myself a copy of Windows 7 or should I call it Windows Vista Service Pack! It looks to be pretty good and there don’t seem to be the errors that occurred when Vista was released which is good news. I’ll let you know what I think when it’s up and running on my machine. Since I’m running XP at the moment, to install it I’m going to have to do a ‘clean install’ which whilst it’s a little bit of a pain it’s actually not a bad thing. The only annoying think is having to install the applications back onto the computer!
I always have my laptop and blackberry to fall back on should for whatever reason Windows 7 doesn’t turn out to function correctly in the first instance!!