First I was scared and after that I became slightly angry, some items may have been thrown around the living-room. Then I was doubtful, could I do a good job? Sleepiness came next and then finally I was excited, though the last one took about 72-hours to come about, if I’m totally honest.

We announced it this morning to the world after taking a few days to let family and close friends know. They have all been very supportive and have bestowed wisdom upon me that only family and people who are already parents can. It’s going to be a roller-coaster few months, and years, this is for sure, but I’m sure it will make me into a better, stronger and more mature person.

We only have 6 months left to plan because Misia is 3 months along already. Everything and everyone is healthy thus far and I’ll be posting scan pictures and the like in due course.

For everyone who has been around since I started blogging back in 2000, and I know there are a few of you, I thank you for being here, you really are seeing my life pan out in real-time, aren’t you? I first posted as a spotty 15-year old in high-school (these posts were lost in the great database crash of 2003, unfortunately), almost completely unaware of what he wanted to do and now we’re 10 years on…

I will do an anniversary post in June, 10 years to the month that I started blogging. Oh, and I promise to be here more, and this is one promise I will keep this time. I have to stop being a flake.

Thank you for all the joy that you have brought to me and countless others over the past 26 years. Can you believe it has been so long? I can’t.
I’m very worried about you at the moment, Steven. You seem to be pushing yourself to do things that you do not want to do, primarily performing on a stage.
Correct me if I am mistaken, but you are clearly not enjoying it right now. You need to take a break.
If you were to retire we would not blame you, we have so many fond memories to look back on, you can only damage your reputation from here on. Please don’t push yourself so far that you become branded a hack, only continuing for the sake of the record companies wishes.

Remember Wolverhampton ‘88? The fans queued for days and you let them in for free, as long as they wore one of your t shirts. You enjoyed that gig.
Remember Finsbury Park ‘92? Yes, it was controversial but you fought them off and won. You enjoyed that gig too.

Can you remember the last gig that YOU enjoyed? Of course, we enjoy every single one, but I’m asking you the question. When did you last turn up to a venue and really relish the fact that you were going on stage? Albert Hall ‘03 possibly, during your hiatus?

I say this in kindness and sadness, you need to take some time off. Kick back, relax, perhaps even go back to your old haunts in L.A? Hang out with Nancy [Sinatra]. Do whatever you have to do to enjoy it again, because if you don’t it will consume you and it will all be over.

Best Wishes,

Nathan L Collins.

I am finding more and more that certain brands are monitoring keywords using Tweetdeck or similar applications to reply to tweets either with a sales pitch for their similar product or even to try to redeem themselves in a “pro-active customer service” move.

The first point that I must make is that if you’re going to take the latter stance, appoint somebody who knows the product and is familiar with twitter etiquette. I recently had my broadband company reply to a rant about their service, to which I replied to them with the issue and didn’t hear another thing for a week. I then commented on this lack of response, after-all, they contacted me, and they replied, quite snappily I might add, insisting that they had DM’ed me. Well, anyone who had been using Twitter for more than 24 hours would know that you cannot send a direct message to somebody who does not follow you. And why would I be following my ISPs customer service department? So of course, I didn’t get their DM.
When I did get a response to my technical question, their response didn’t make any sense. Apparently my “IP address email addresschanges daily”. The question I asked them was about the LAN IP addresses that their router gives. Duh.

Another experience was with UPS who clearly monitor the use of “UPS”. Unfortunately it seems that only their US branch use Twitter so when I complained by way of a tweet to the world and they contacted me, they clearly didn’t look at my location before offering assistance, as when I replied with my issue they said they couldn’t help and to call the UK call centre (by this time I had already).

Other companies monitor for use of words that are attributed to their product, or even their competitors company names in an attempt to poach customers. This may all be fine, as long as they are offering you a comparable service or product – not something that is 3-4x the price or isn’t in any way the same.

Twitter can be a great way to get your companies names onto the computer screens of customers or potential customers, as long as it is executed properly. The rules of the real world still apply in Twitterland. It may be a new way to be in contact, but that shouldn’t change anything.

My top tips

• Your brand is not my friend. Do not pretend that it is. Don’t @ me after randomly finding me through keyword searches offering comment only to lead up to a sales pitch.
• If you’re going to offer customer service by twitter, offer to take my telephone number and call me. I’m sure that most issues cannot be sorted out in 140 characters.
• Know how Twitter works. Don’t DM me when I can’t receive it because I don’t follow you. Oh, and don’t @ when you mean to DM, that could be disastrous.

Follow me on Twitter.

The one thing that was annoying was that Firefox was crashing, pages were taking an age or not loading at all, especially javascript heavy websites like Gmail or Facebook and after moving to Google Chrome for a week and complaining a lot on Twitter I decided to do something about it.

First I loaded Firefox up in safe mode. This cleared up the problem. Then I found from a Windows 7 forum that apparently some add-ons (extensions) don’t sit quite right with Windows 7. This seems plausible, especially since I’m using the 64-bit edition. So I disabled all of my extensions and switched them back on – one by one.

Low and behold, luckily I went from bottom-to-top as the offending plug-in was … Skype Extension for Firefox. With this add-on enabled the browser grinds to a halt almost completely, eats all memory and stops JS from working almost entirely.

So if you get this problem, check for this extension, disable it and let me know the results in the comments. I can’t be the only one experiencing this, surely?

I have no rhythm, and by the looks of it, no balance either.

I’ll be back soon, I promise. Things are just a bit hectic around here at the moment, see previous post for details.

I’ve worked at Lloyds TSB Asset Finance in Cardiff for 5 years. I’m only 24 years old. I always known that I wanted to work in IT. I joined LTSB for that reason, and I accomplished it. In that time I’ve managed to do some exciting things. Some boring things. But above all get real experience in the field. I had previously worked for NTL, providing technical support for their internet customers, this is where I first dipped my toes, professionally. Of course, I have been designing websites since 1997 and I started to learn my first programming language at the tender age of 6 (BASIC on the Commodore 64).

I leave my position on the 1st of May with no job to go to. Not at another company, at least.
In the past 9 months I have been dabbling with freelance work. After doing some unpaid work to bulk up my portfolio and some favours for friends of friends and with other contracts now in the pipeline and ready to go, I decided that I want this to be my new career goal. To become a self-employed, or freelance, web application programmer.

In the next 6 weeks I will be launching at least two separate ventures.

The first, which will be my primary business, is web design and programming under the moniker ‘Pixelfreedom‘.
I created Pixelfreedom almost 8 years ago as a base for my photography portfolio. I still think this is a good name for a creative organisation.
Under this banner I will provide services to clients to provide a solution to the technicalities of their desired websites.
In layman’s terms, this means the clever stuff that goes on the in the background. Making a website ‘interactive’, being able to sign up, log in, upload your photo, add products to your basket, checkout and pay. All of the kind of stuff that you probably take for granted when using social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter. This kind of thing takes many man hours and a lot of code in the background to achieve.
Along with this, as you would probably expect, is the part where the site is made pretty and functional at the front-end, for the user. This will also be something that I will be offering as a product of my labour.

The second venture will be provided under my own name, Nathan Collins, which will run from one of my other websites, ‘nate.me.uk‘. For this I will use my considerable knowledge, expertise and experience in the field of online marketing, advertising and social networking to consult companies on their brands use of these tools.
This means advising clients on the best use of Google Adwords, Facebook, Twitter, blogs and other means of conducting ‘viral’ advertising, and running the campaigns, which can be so very effective if used in the correct way.

The next few months will be a roller-coaster ride for me. I have been in full-time employment continuously since leaving college aged 18. I have learned many skills along the way and continue to learn new things every single day of my life, which is something that I relish continuing to do, as no doubt I will, especially considering the line of work that I am in where knowledge is most definitely infinite.

Now that the biggest step has been taken I will be carrying on at this momentum. Next week I am having my business cards printed up and will be filing forms to register myself as self-employed.

I hope you all wish me luck, continue to read hintofsarcasm while I go through this big transitional period and of course recommend my services to anyone that you come across that may require them :)

I had the pleasure of conducting a Q&A session with Brian & Margaret Harries who are behind the venture ‘Fab Mash’ on Caroline Street, Cardiff, some days before the grand opening, which was on Sunday, March 1st.

Nathan: Since the sign went up a few weeks ago, anybody I mention the name to has been enthused to know what could possibly be served up in mashed potato takeaway. I have tried to explain it, but can you tell us, definitively, what Fab Mash will be serving?

Fab Mash: We will be serving a choice of five mash varieties; regular, leek, cheesy, spicy and breakfast mash. These are available in snack or regular sizes.
Mash can be eaten on its own or with a choice of items from our ‘Mix ‘n’ Mash’ menu, including sausage, faggot, beef casserole, lentil dhal, steak & ale pie, chicken, leek & bacon pie, mushy peas, baked beans, onions or gravy!
We also offer set ‘Fab Meals’, combining mash and selected accompaniments, ‘Snack Mash Meals’, which are just a bit smaller and an ‘All-day-breakfast’ menu, featuring our unique ‘Breakfast Mash’, plus sausage and/or beans.
Phew, that sounds more complicated than it is! Actually it’s really simple. Everything is laid out on menu boards and people are quickly getting the hang of it!

Nathan: Where did the idea for a takeaway restaurant with a mashed potato theme come from?

Fab Mash: We have loved making this type of food for a long time and people always enjoy it, so we had a hunch that this type of takeaway would go down well. After loads of research and planning we decided there was definitely a market for it.
It seems we were right, or at least the signs are good so far. We have sourced the best food and ingredients, as this was central to what we wanted to achieve. The initial feedback has been excellent and we’ve been extremely encouraged by what people have said to us.

Nathan: Cardiff is becoming quite the city for businesses to try to sell new ideas for food, what made you choose Cardiff?

Fab Mash:Although we live in Haverfordwest we have had close links with Cardiff for the last 20 years. It’s a vibrant city, it has gone through something of a transformation in the last 10 years and the fact it was nominated for City of Culture 2008 says an awful lot about Cardiff. We believe in Fab Mash and want to make it a national brand. Our capital city was the obvious choice to test the concept and its potential.

Nathan: How long have plans to open Fab Mash been in the pipeline?

Fab Mash: We’ve been planning to start Fab Mash for almost three years! It’s been a long road but we feel the results make it all worthwhile.

Nathan: I understand that Cardiff is to be the first Fab Mash location. If it goes well, where else do you have in mind to open stores?

Fab Mash: We’d like at least one more shop in Cardiff and are looking at another location currently. Our ultimate goal would be to take Fab Mash to London, which would help us establish a national brand.
It’s too early to say how long that will take and where the stepping stones along the way will be. We passionately respect our roots though, so the Cardiff store will always be our spiritual home!

Nathan: Fab Mash is located on one of the busiest streets in the city centre after dark. Do you have a late opening license?

Fab Mash: Our licence is from 10 am to 4 am. We will establish our regular opening hours over the coming weeks but the idea is to be open as long as customers are out there!

Nathan: If so, how do you see night revellers taking your concept of mashed potato and gravy over chips and gravy?

Fab Mash: Our decisions are not based on people taking preference over other takeaways. There should be enough business for everyone in this area. We are merely offering an alternative choice for people, which we think they want. Believe me, we have eaten our fair share of chips and gravy and will continue to do so!

Nathan: Chips and Caroline Street is an almost half century old tradition for Cardiff locals. Do you think you can compete against the likes of Dorothy’s, who’s patch you will be moving in on? What do you think will give you the edge?

Fab Mash: We do not see ourselves competing against the established traders in the street, who incidentally have been extremely welcoming and helpful toward us. The reputation of Caroline Street has been built by the existing businesses and we have just been pleased to be joining them on their patch.
One of our new neighbours actually summed it up very professionally when he explained to us that no matter how many people want your product when it is really busy you cannot serve them all. There is enough business in Caroline Street for all of us to co-exist.

Nathan: What advertising will Fab Mash be doing? Will there be any special opening offers?

Fab Mash: We are working to get the Fab Mash name out there however we can, and help from people like you is always welcome!
We are a family-run business and are very much about people and relationships, so we are trying to connect with real people both online and in person. We have created a Fab Mash website: http://www.fabmash.co.uk and have a twitter presence: http://twitter.com/fabmash.
This has been useful so far as it has helped us gauge opinion, albeit from a relatively small number of people. We are hoping to grow a Fab Mash community of loyal followers, that can help us take the company in the right direction.
We are also running a PR campaign, extending beyond this into traditional media and have a company helping us with all that, along with putting marketing materials together etc.
In terms of offers we will have to see how this develops. At the moment, we are just trying to see what people think of the current menu offering and pricing, then we can make some decisions.
Currently we are kept very busy! We are just focusing on meeting demand and getting as many people as possible to try our mash! Most people seem to be coming back for more, which is great!

-Syndicated from one of my other blogs, InsideCardiff.com