Long overdue site update

I'm going to attempt to update the Wordpress install. Wish me luck...

Update: it seems to have worked! #phew

300!

This is the 300th mactually post.

That is all.

Commenting problems

It seems that there's a problem with comments on the site - you get dumped at a 'page not found' error message.

It might fix itself, or I might eventually get around to upgrading the site, which might also fix it.

Be careful on here

I've been getting loads of spam comments over the last few days. If you see a comment with obvious filth in it, please don't click the link - you'll only encourage them. I need to upgrade my WordPress installation; could someone arrange some 28 hour days for me?

I'm back baby!

Wireless internetting, with a fresh XP install. Fabbo.

Also, drinking a lurverly 15 year old expression of Laphroig single malt my dad brought me back from Scotland. Thanks, dad.

Home internet access problems

I currently have net access problems at home, which the nice man on the NTL helpline pinpointed as being a problem with my computer, rather than the modem. Unfortunately, I need a guaranteed working laptop more than I need net access at the moment, so I'm not fixing it till I get the current lot of marking done, which means no net access at home for a while (and I've had none for 2 weeks already). Plus, between kids and work I just don't have the time to get it fixed at the moment. As I'm now just online at work updates to this site will be even less frequent than they have been...

Site borked

Looks like my Del.icio.us bookmarks include is broken and that's messing up the site. I might fix it at some point, if I get time or can be bothered. Or, it might fix itself.

Possible problems

I've forgotten to renew the hosting for mactually, and it runs out tomorrow. I'm going to pay this afternoon, but I may disappear briefly. Not that anyone would notice.

Quickie

A quick update.

• Still no baby (2 days overdue now...)


• Got soaked riding to work today; mainly because I aim for muddles though. Bikes are still ace. If I walked to work and deliberatly jumped in puddles, people would think I was mental, but on a bike they just think I'm mad (and most people would think I was mad for riding to work even if I wasn't aiming for the puddles).


• Should I start podcasting? Blogs are soooo 2002 :)

Update

I've got really bad at blogging regularly.

I got a 'new' bike - a knackered black Coventry Eagle Nevada that Andrew had sat in his garage. A little TLC truned it into a shonky singlepeed that'll be fine as a spare (possible main) commuter bike. Possibly, it'll end up fixed and odd-handlebarred. (Older photo below - now it doesn't have any stickers which actually makes it look quite cool.)



New baby is due on Wednesday (4 days)! Ellie was 9 days early, so we've been poised to dash to the hospital for the last week or so. Hopefully it'll arrive before the end of the weekend so I can tag my one week paternity leave onto the end of half term. I doubt I'll manage to blog during labour, like last time, but I'll post as soon as I can...

[Updated: fixed typos and added link to Andrew's website.]

Spam, spam, spam, spam

I'm getting too many spam comments here (which you don't usually get to see, because they're held in a moderation section from which I delete them) so I'm ramping up the spam protection; comments which look like spam, smell like spam or taste like spam are spam and will get deleted automagically. Avoid using obvious spam-words in your comments.

On identity and anonyminity in an interconnected world

When I first started using this domain name it was because I'd decided I wanted a slightly more anonymous blog, because my students had found my old site way too easily and, while there wasn't anything dodgy on my site, it linked to some sites that linked to some dodgier stuff.

So, I created this site, mothballed my old one, didn't give a forwarding address and started again. I even deleted old usernames for various forums, which were linked to the old site and used my full name, to make it less likely a student would stumble across this site.

But, it's been very difficult to decide when to use my "real identity" for things, or my Mactually ID. Some areas have merged and blurred, so a blog I started to talk about cycling in Darlington became a blog for the Darlington Cycling Campaign, which was all done under my real name. I registered with the Hamsterley Trailblazers forum, using my Mactually name and email, but not linking to the site. I registered with the North East Cyclo Cross League forum as 'Mike', using my Mactually email, but not linking here, because some students also went to the races. I felt like I shouldn't link from here to the results, because that used my full name.

I set out to make something completely anonymous, my proxy blog for Alan Milburn MP, and ended up with my real full name printed in The Times! (I still haven't found out how the journalist made the link...)

Being completely anonymous on the internet doesn't work, when there's crossover between the real world and the 'virtual world'. Someone at the cyclo cross asks me if I'm Mike; does he know me from the Trailblazers site, the NECCL site, the On-One forum, the Bike Darlington blog, a friend of a friend? Should I comment on my friend's blogs as Miketually or with my real name?

There's too much crossover between the real world and the internet and Google sees all so I'm no longer going to try to keep everything separate. I was probably being a bit over-paranoid anyway, since there's not really anything here I would discuss with my students anyway.

Google sees all:

• a blog comment when I mention students finding my website is the second result for my name


• a photo of me in my bike lycra is the first


• the old version of my old website is third


• my first recent website is next up

After that, there's various blog comments and spam links (including some for penile enlargements worryingly). Perhaps it's best my students find this site first after all...

My name is Mike McTimoney and this is my blog.

A vacation

Mactually is away.

Ch ch ch ch changes

I just upgraded the site to Word Press 1.5 (from 1.2.2). I'm using the default theme, so things look a little different, but the content (what there is anyway) is the same. Updates will be as sproadic as ever.

Obligatory second post - who I am and what the site's about

Where to start?

I'm a 27 year old, father of one, teacher. I like mountain biking and reading, so that's what the blog is mainly going to be about. I'll also post other bits and pieces, links to stuff I find on teh interweb, ramblings about what's in the news, whatever.

This isn't my first website, but my old site, where I'd been writing for a couple of years, got discovered by some students I teach and, while there was nothing too dodgy there, it only took two clicks to get from my site to some dodgy stuff, and I wasn't happy with them being able to read whatever I posted. So, I left my old site to gather dust and stopped using my very obvious login names on some websites and forums I used, and created a new, semi-anonymous web identify.

(Obviously, if you know me, you'll know who I really am. So, if you link to the site, can I ask you to do it in such a way as to not use my surname. Ta.)

Obligatory first post post

First post.