dankarran.com > latest news > November 2002

November 2002 news

Obligatory 'there and then' photos posted 20 Nov 2002 by Dan Karran [permalink] By the end of today, my new camera had arrived (after what felt like an eternity of waiting - it was actually only two days). It turned up on my desk at the end of the day so I spent a little time setting it up and experimenting with it. Of course part of that process is taking the obligatory pictures of your desk, your phone and any other truly 'inspiring' things you can get your hands on at the time (note, please add in own sarcasm ). I've put together a small gallery of some of the pictures I've taken so far, just 'playing' with it. I will hopefully get a chance to start using it properly very soon...

Doing some updates (no camera yet) posted 19 Nov 2002 by Dan Karran [permalink] In the absence of my new camera (it didn't arrive at work today, as I was hoping it would) I've spent some time tonight updating a few pages on both my site and on a site I designed for someone else almost two years ago. Manxfarmhols.com is a small website designed to promote Smeale Farm Cottage in Andreas, in the north of the Isle of Man. They offer out their cottage to Island visitors (especially families) looking for a self-catering holiday and the opportunity to stay on a working farm in the midst of the beautiful Manx countryside. The site was set up to allow the proprietors to change the pricing and availability on the site whenever they required, and for that information to be dynamically displayed on the site.

New camera on its way posted 18 Nov 2002 by Dan Karran [permalink] After getting home last night and searching Amazon for Christmas presents for people, I thought to myself, maybe now is the right time to treat myself to the digital camera I've been after for a while. Before I turned back and left it sitting there on the site, I ordered myself a Fuji S602 Zoom camera with extra memory. Anxious as I was to receive it, I spent most of today checking and checking the Amazon site to see if it had been dispatched... in the end it had been, so I should have it by tomorrow . I can't wait to start taking photos with it! One of the good things about Amazon at the moment is that they're offering free postage for all orders over £39, which of course means it's free for digital cameras and the like, but also means it's free if I can find enough of my Christmas presents for other people on there too... yay! That's a lot of my christmas shopping sorted then!

Revolution posted 16 Nov 2002 by Dan Karran [permalink] After a week at work there is nothing better than relaxing with a drink in your hand - which is what a number of us from work did last night. Revolution vodka bar in London's Soho district serves up some of the nicest vodkas around, from shots to pitchers. Their selection of drinks is amazing, so one thing you've really got to do in there is try something new every time. Last night we tried the Glacier Mint shots and absolutely loved them - before getting back to our Razzputin pitcher. Mmmmmm. Later on, after having had two pitchers each, I decided I probably shouldn't stay any longer... who knows how many I would have polished off. The drinks go down far too easily, especially the fruity ones.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets posted 14 Nov 2002 by Dan Karran [permalink] I've just got back in from watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets at the local cinema. I was a little sceptical of what the second movie would be like but after around half an hour I had really started to get into it, but it was great. Now I can't wait for the third one... Before I went out to the cinema I started to work on a search page for my site, which I welcome anyones views on. Do remember it's still in development so don't expect too much from it at the moment . At the moment it just searches the photos and news items, but it will hopefully do more soon. There is also a Google link at the bottom which will perform your current search on Google.

Updates to the site posted 13 Nov 2002 by Dan Karran [permalink] After putting live my new design I have tweaked it slightly, adding features such as a sitemap (currently being worked on), a 'home' link at the top of every page and a random photo on the right hand side of the front page. Each time you visit or refresh the page, it will display a different photo for you, chosen from my galleries. On a completely different note, I found out about our work Christmas Party today, which should be fun... I think I'm going to like this time of year in the office

Actually, maybe I will redesign it... posted 12 Nov 2002 by Dan Karran [permalink] After saying the other day that I really should go back to my NYC design and apply it to the site, I thought... ahhh, I want to design a new one. So that's what I've done, and this is the result. This is the 11th design I've used to date; the rest are archived in my web design section. I've kept the design simple for now to help me implement it a little more easily, but may be adding to it soon - like putting new features onto the front page. Oh, and the blue bits at the top and bottom will hopefully be squashed against the outside of the window instead of having that strange white gap there... ps - it was late last night when I actually did most of the changes, so please ignore any typos!

Still nothing really new on the site, but... posted 10 Nov 2002 by Dan Karran [permalink] As with my last post, I haven't really got anything to say about the site in this posting. I still haven't done anything new to the site, and still have my NYC design to apply to the site, and really should do it soon considering its been ready for 4 months now I have had quite a few requests from people to use my photos recently too, so I'm considering putting a lot more of them up - as and when I can sit down and have some quality time with my scanner At the moment I'm trying to convince myself to start getting fit, probably by swimming. It's proving more difficult than I thought though, despite my willingness to do it (honest!). Part of the reason is that I'm shattered when I get home from work at the end of the day - and the times I'm not quite so tired I like to spend with my friends. I've spent most daylight hours sleeping this weekend, after going out clubbing in London on both Friday and Saturday night. From 7am on Friday morning, I somehow managed to stay up until 6am Saturday morning, and still managed to feel suprisingly awake travelling home on Saturday's first tube and train of the day. That day, I stayed in bed until 5pm before heading out on the town again, only to get back around 4am on Sunday. Fluid, the bar we all ended up at, turned out to have a singles night on that night - a recurring theme, it would seem. Some of them tried to convince us it was the Bond movie launch party, but we weren't having any of it All in all it was a very good weekend! Not something to be done too often though, methinks...