Author: Olly

  • 69 Minute Designs

    In all the time i have worked with computers, i have never been told that the work i do is bad. Ok, so im not up-to-date with the most current and cutting edge software or the latest methods of creating online web presences – but – i do what the people i work for want, and they are always happy with it.

    When i left college (early) i went into an IT technician role for a local IT outsourcing company. I never wanted to pursue the role of a web designer (even though i enjoyed making stuff like that) as i figured every man and his dog would want to do it so the competition would be too fierce. I settled into the IT support role and i loved it! I loved the buzz you get from being the “It dude” and fixing a problem that is a big deal to someone, but is just a ten minute job to you. I learnt a lot, yet never gained anything on paper.

    I then left there and flipped between jobs whilst always in the background doing the odd basic web design/graphic design/pc repair jobs for friends and colleagues i had at the time. After 6 months or so i got a job as a large scale digital printer and due to my knowledge of computers and basic knowledge of design i took to the job like a duck to water. I learnt so much more about design, and printing, it all kinda slotted in with what i already knew and i found a slight creative spark that had been sat inside me dormant, waiting for its time to shine. Haha.

    I handed my notice in there to become self employed as the whole time in the background me and my mate dave had been continuing to do small jobs here there and everywhere and we figured we could get enough of these jobs now to pay our wages if we were both doing it full time.

    So now, thanks to the wide variety of skills and experience dave and i bring to the table – we are and have been in business for over a year now, and are over the hill so to speak! We’re still very new to the world of business compared to many people, but we have made a good go of it and seem to be getting on fairly well.

    We offer just about any form of marketing, sales or design type service, either from us of through our close relationships with other very talented people who specialise in different areas that we are not as skilled in. And have a long list of clients, many of them bring repeat business becasue we do what they want us to do, and as far as im aware, we do it well.

    We had one guy complain ages ago because what he envisioned a website looking like was just a stupid idea, and moaned that we had client logos in the gallery that shouldn’t of been there (despite being on the CD they gave to me with images on to put in the gallery) That situation was rectified, and we have never had a complaint since. And that particular incident happened in the first month so thats over a years worth of 100% good results and no complaints.

    So my point is, the fact i am pretty much self taught, and dont have hardly any qualifications to my name, and i probably dont do things exactly how other people do them in regards the work i do for people, but the way i do things seems to work well enough, and it all looks pretty.. So whats the big deal?

    The reason for this post is that i got an email from a guy slating a website we sorted out for someone. It was totally out the blue, quite offensive really in some respects and just pretty rude. It was as if what he was seeing was causing his head to swell and the pain suddenly became too much to take. He needed to explode and he did so in an email.

    It initially wound me up, as its not a very nice thing to read really, but then i kinda forgot about it. Its not worth taking it in the way in which it was intended. I have used it to push me to improve what i do and how i do things and it will just end up pushing us both harder and making us more determined to create a business we can sit back and be proud of.

    What made me laugh about the whole situation is that i barely have time to update my blog once a month (this post took 2 days) yet he has all the time in the world and spends it writing hate mail to local competitors.

    Maybe he’s got beef because he went to uni and wasted loads of time and money getting something that has got him working in exactly the same job as me?

    I have a feeling i know the guy too, and he knows me, but i don’t think he knows its me that he’s emailed – if that makes sence.

    Anyway, ill not name the guy as im not one to bad mouth other people (haha yeah right)

    TTFN

  • Stuff stolen from my garage

    I have had a garage at the bottom of my old road in mansfield woodhouse for many years now, and it has always been the home for my pickup. Anyway, its now the time to bring the caddy back to life so i have successfully brought it home to my new house.

    Before i went to prauge, my garage was broken in to, and i found the plastic sheet in the back of it lifted up as if something had been taken. I paniced, and quickly looked for my bag with my airbag stuff in. I found a bag on the floor that was the same as the bag they were in, and i presumed it was indeed the one i was looking for.

    I didnt check in it, i just presumed.

    You should NEVER presume..

    I checked today, and my airbag stuff was missing. The bag infact contained blowup camping beds.

    I should of checked the bags when i found them, but to be honest knowing then would of probably not got them back to me. They stole a compressor, an airtank, all my solenoids, wiring, switches and air pipes etc – and one of my dads big holdall bags. These items are mine, that i have struggled to pay for over the stupid amount of time i have been trying to get this god damm truck on the road. Who gives these people the right to take things that do not belong to them? How do they sleep at night knowing they are fucking with peoples lives when they do this sort of shit?

    I have spoken to the police, and they basically that despite a council run cctv camera scans and records all the activity right outside my garage, because its been 3 weeks i doubt they will check the recordings as it takes too long.

    Hello?

    What the fuck am i paying council tax for if its not to pay your fucking wages so you do your fucking job? I work hard, pay my fucking way and dont break any laws bar the odd minor speeding violation. So why am i being completely fucked over by the very people who’s food i buy and cars i fuel up?

    Im gonna find out how much of my council tax go’s to you fuckers, and not pay it. If they ask ill tell them to take me off the fucking list cos i dont want your fucking help anyway. All you do is take my money when i do 40 in the middle of the night in a 30 zone, and fob me off when someone steals something that belongs to me.

    If anyone hears anything about this kinda stuff trying to be sold, then let me know.

    Old, kinda rusty airbag stuff, the air tank has a broken pressure switch.

    Thanks.

  • Prison Break – Sara is alive?

    I recently posted a blog entry about what is currently happening with prison break, and how i was unsure is episode 14 of season 3 (S03E14) was ever going to grace our screens.

    Within a few days a load of comments appeared from other PB lovers from around the globe with their thoughts on PB, and a certain topic arose that has just spun me out.

    The actor that plays sara left the show as she was pregnant in real life, and her character was apparently killed off and her head was delivered to lincon to scare him into sticking to “The companies” rules in regards the whole breaking whistler out of prison deal.

    A guy called tonu posted this comment that has turned my perception of what the rest of the season (or season 4) could actually end up being about.

    “Sara is Alive!!!!!Season 3 u guys will all see she is alive!!!!”

    What the hell? How can sara be alive? if she is, then whos head was in that box?

    Im not sure how the writers can bring her back, but i do know that from grechins point of view, having sara to use as a bargaining chip would certainly be a way of stopping micheal from killing her when he finds her.

    If anyone out there has any news on this, please comment.

    If the writers find my blog, then give me some info so that i am put out my misery!

  • Holiday in prague

    We had a short break to Prague booked for a while, we managed to get it for a good price – it only came to £200 exactly for flights and our hotel! We were only there for 4 nights, but there was breakfast included in the price 🙂

    We arrived late Tuesday evening, and pretty much crashed out in our room as we had travelled a lot and were very tired.

    The next day we got up early and headed off to find the “Metro” so we could go to the centre of prague. We found the metro station, and felt so alienated as the ticket machines made no sense and all the signs were in czech. We asked some guy stood next to us which ticket we needed to get to cover us up to the centre of prauge, he pointed to the top button – the one marked 25 monies. So for both of us it was about £1.50 to get to the centre, which is nothing really is it 🙂

    We arrived at a stop we figured was roughly the centre (Florenc) and got off the metro – which was made by skoda by the way 🙂 Prague is a very nice city, with wonderful architecture and ace statues and bridges and stuff. We wandered about all day discovering little streets with tiny bric a brac shops, a torture museum and all sorts of mad shops and attractions. We had some food and headed back to the metro station to make our way home. We bought tickets again, but noticed that a lot of other people didnt buy tickets. We also noticed that no one checked that you had tickets, and although there was things to stamp your tickets on, there was nothing stopping you walking right through and getting on the metro without paying, so from then on we didnt bother buying a ticket and just kept the ones we had already purchased as they had no dates on them either! strange!

    That night we had some food in our hotel restaurant, and it was fairly nice, chicken with cheese and stuff – not bad for the price. We crashed out again for the night as we had probably walked ten miles or something 🙂

    The second full day was much the same as the first, except we knew our way about a bit so went straight to certain attractions like the huge Prague museum. It was very big, and had some really interesting stuff in it about czech history and shit like that. The building itself was amazing, inside and out! Deffo worth a visit but there is a lot to take in as its massive so wear comfy shoes!

    We walked around a lot of shops that day too and found that adidas stuff was more expensive than jsut about anything – i felt like some kind of fashion mogul in my adidas trainers, adidas socks, adidas combats, adidas hoodie and adidas teeshrit. Haha 🙂

    Once we had ridden home (for free) and got changed, we went out to the local Chinese and managed to order some food, its not on par with English Chinese food (if that makes sense) but is probably more like actual Chinese food – sticky rice etc. It was very nice though, and unbelievably cheap!

    The last full day was spent exploring parts of Prague we had not been in yet, including the big hike up to the castle on the hill. It is probably the most amazing structure i have ever seen, and in such good condition for its age. We had to walk past the guards outside the castle who were much like the ones in London, except they were out on the street and looked like they’d stab you if you went too near!

    The castle was free to get in, and was packed with tourists. The inside was elegant and amazingly decorated, with perfectly intact stained glass windows and gold and marble bits everywhere. We took lots of photos in there but couldn’t get any really good ones due to the sheer size of everything, we couldn’t fit it all in the lens of the camera!

    We left the castle and had a nice cup of tea at a hillside restaurant overlooking the whole of prague. It was a bit foggy, but you could see everything. Very impressive! We took a slow walk back down the hill stopping in souvenir shops to look at them little dolls that open up to reveal another one inside and so on and so on. And the vast array of glass ornaments and wooden puppets. We didn’t buy anything as it was all pretty tacky stuff, and to be fair its the kind of stuff people put on a shelf that gathers dust. Nothing of any real use!

    We had started this day late, so that we could stay longer and witness all the buildings lit up in the darkness, and what a signt it was. They really show off the architecture in Prague, and quite rightly so. Some of the buildings just take your breath away, even more so when lit up at night.

    We headed back to the metro and went to sleep for the last time in our hotel room.

    The last half day was spent monging in the hotel, playing on the internet and eating and drinking. We couldn’t be arsed to move much as we had walked round the earth and back at least 4 times. We watched police academy 6 in the hotel restaurant and had the most amazing cheese on/in toast in the whole world! mmmm

    We got back to the airport and awaited out fight back to england!

    Here are a list of cool things that prague has to offer.

    1. cool buildings
    2. cheap food beer and cigarettes etc
    3. crazy museums and attractions

    Here is a list of annoyances that i encountered

    1. ignorant people
    2. poverty
    3. dirty pavements and buildings
    4. terrible roads
    5. stupid language
    6. confusing currency
    7. skodas
    8. homeless people
    9. stray dogs

    So if you weighed it up, its probably not the best place in the world. But, it was a great holiday, a well needed break and a good chance for some me-and-gem-time after our recent engagement 🙂

    I would recommend anyone to go, but not for too long as it could get a little boring. 🙂