In a previous article, I wanted to add a trackback to properly cite an article on Ben Gillbanks blog about his Regulus theme.
I couldn't find the trackback URL but, as ever, WordPress is doing all the donkey work for me and now I see my posting does indeed appear as a comment in Ben's original article.
No manual intervention, head scratching or wasted time. Exactly as it should be.
I quite enjoy the idea of BlogShares.com which a fantasy stock market for blogs. BlogShares places a notional value on your blog based on the number (and value) of inbound and outbound links. Shares in blogs can then be traded.
BlogShares is also useful for identifying blogs by people with similar interests. For example, most Oracle technically minded people usually link to Tom Kyte's excellent blog and their blogs are also worth reading.
However, I am little perplexed as to why BlogShares thinks I have an outbound link to a Spanish blog I have never heard of, let alone referenced.
I also enjoyed this intriguing disclaimer on BlogShares about the outbound links.
This is a list of all recognised outgoing links from this blog. It may not be accurate or complete.
That's a great basis to make investment decisions albeit fantasy ones.
Those nice people at WordPress have opened up WordPress.com to the masses and added a couple of new themes. I really like the Regulus theme from Ben Gillbanks because it looks clear and uncluttered, the tag line is displayed and the RSS feeds for the blog and comments are obvious.
The only polite suggestions for improvement would be to relocate 'Blog Roll' under the 'Archive' and 'Categories' to let the main body text occupy more of the screen and for 'Message ssage' to be fixed in the 'Comments' section.
Please don't tell me that bulleted lists appear in bold. They are not. Apparently, they are just in a different colour. :-) The author is kindly going to fix this issue in the next release.
So now my blog has a pretty picture of the vast, infinite emptiness of the universe and 'Blog in Isolation' is reinstated. Very apt.
Not a brilliant week if you are a United fan...
A few years ago, I was drinking in the Chelsea Potter on the Kings Road and a mate said Thats George Best sitting over there. I replied 'Yeah, right'. I looked across to the bar and saw a plump, bearded figure sitting on a barstool, clad in a hideous blue shell-suit, sipping a Coke. I was stupefied. After a while, he finished his drink and left. I was still gawping at him like a lovestruck teenager and I swore he smiled at me on his way out.
Thanks for all the memories, George. RIP.
Dont bother. Focus on content. If people care, they will comment.
Last week, I initiated the transfer of the last of my pension funds into my Self Invested Personal Pension (SIPP). This should be a relatively straightforward transfer of the Protected Rights element of a former pension plan. The first step was a response from the pension company receiving the funds. They need me to fill in a form explicitly stating that I did not request any financial advice about this transfer to guard them against mis-selling claims.
It is ironic that the Protected Rights must be transferred into a stakeholder pension (and not my SIPP) as these contributions were made by the UK Government on my behalf so it must be entrusted to those sensible men in grey suits and not invested in the funds of my choice in my SIPP. Tell that to the people who lost thousands of pounds of their hard earned money that was supposedly secure with Equitable Life.
However this is a minor inconvenience compared with the pain, delays, bureaucracy and sheer incompetence I suffered three years ago. After twenty years working for various IT companies, I had accumulated small pots of money distributed across a variety of pension funds. I decided to consolidate all of these pension funds into a self invested pension plan (SIPP).
This was mainly so I had direct control over exactly where my money was invested and to reduce the impact of the management charges paid to the men in sharp suits. In a SIPP, you are charged for each share transaction. If you buy and hold shares for the long term, then the SIPP charges are much lower than a managed fund. In addition, one significant pension fund was invested with Equitable Life which was in dire financial straits, subject to a lot of negative media coverage and was closed to new business.
So I wrote lots of letters, filled in lots of transfer forms, made lots of phone calls and opened an account with SippDeal. The transfers of seven different pension funds were all initiated around the same time (January 2003) and the final batch of funds were made available for trading in early July 2003.
Once I learned how to play the game (write letters in the first instance, fill in the required forms promptly, take copies of all correspondence, telephone in the second instance, get names of the people you deal with, record the date and time, record what was promised, get a direct dial extension, keep comprehensive records), I found that most companies were relatively efficient in handling the transfer.
However a dishonourable mention goes to Scottish Widows who really did plunge new levels of incompetence (letters getting lost, faxes getting lost, people promising to call back etc etc). Maybe I was unlucky but all I can say is that I am really glad Scottish Widows are not managing my pension any more.
The SIPP appears to be performing really well as the funds are primarily invested in high yielding FTSE 100 companies. However, this may be misleading as the FTSE has performed well since January 2003.
What I should really do is to compare the performance of my stakeholder (with the PR funds) invested by the wise men in grey suits against my SIPP. Maybe when the transfer of this latest pot is complete, I will do exactly that.
In an earlier post, I moaned about Dells opaque pricing model on their UK Web site. However, people (especially me) are very quick to moan and complain but often slow to give thanks and appreciation.
I subsequently contacted Dell Customer Services to complain that the invoice was for a different amount agreed on the phone (strong case) and the fact I discovered that I could configure an identical PC for an even lower price (weaker argument).
The lady from Dell Customer Services initially suggested that I cancel the original order and simply place another order online at the lower price. I pointed out that this was a little silly as it would mean cancelling an order for one computer and adding a new order for a brand new computer with the identical specification.
In any event, it transpired that the PC had already been dispatched from Dell to the courier company, so I would have to call a different department 'Pre Sales Delivery' to cancel the order.
The gentleman in 'Pre Sales Delivery' was more helpful and agreed that cancelling the current order was ludicrous. He offered me a All-In-One-Printer free of charge. While this was a nice gesture, I told him I already had a printer. He then offered me a digital camera free of charge but I already had one of those too. I stood my ground and insisted on the refund and he finally agreed.
The gentleman also gave me his direct email and the name of his supervisor in case of any subsequent issues with the refund. So, I am pleased to say that Dell honoured the lowest price for the PC. It was inconvenient, took a little persistence and a few phone calls but for 54GBP it was well worth it.
There is nothing more tedious than a blog that starts:
Mood: Restless. Currently listening to: X&Y, Coldplay
However I have just burned a CD in ATRAC3Plus format using Sony SonicStage which contains 15 albums !
There was even 3MB left free. I don't care that ATRAC is a lossy format. I am used to listening to bootlegs on TDK 90's that sound as though they were recorded in a bunker.
Things I like about Wordpress after a couple of days...
Minor things I don't like so much
So, you can now buy the program for last Sundays Manchester United game against Chelsea in WH Smiths.
I used to go to Old Trafford every fortnight in the late 70s and 80s (Stretford Paddock, Stretford End, United Road). Part of the experience was travelling there, getting to the ground early, securing your position on a barrier, reading the program, the atmosphere building, the smell of pies and bovril, the chanting, the opposition fans, the players warming up, the tension, the goals, the celebrations, the moaning, everything.
Then I moved away from Manchester and was relegated to a barstool correspondent and finally a slave to Sky Sports in my armchair. Still, at least now, I can read the program a full week after the game has finished.